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Chapter Text

Shen Yuan’s entire body ached as he woke to blinding lights. What the… Where am I?? This was now the... What, 3rd time now? That he’s woken up in an unknown place.

“A-Yuan!?” A young girl's voice was heard from the side of the bed Shen Yuan was on. He blinked a few times, processing the unfamiliar name he hadn’t heard in so many years. Yuan… right. My real name.

Shen Yuan turned his head to look at the girl who spoke. It took him a few moments but he recognized her. She was his younger sister. “Meimei..?” His voice sounded hoarse as he talked. 

“Wait! I’ll go get a doctor!” She quickly said, running out of the room right after. He watched as she left, trying to process everything that had happened. Everything was real. Right? It wasn’t all a dream? It couldn’t have been...

There was no way everything he had gone through had all been fake. Shit. Binghe’s probably freaking out right now. He thought of his husband who was most likely tearing apart their home and the land around it looking for him.

He pushed himself up, getting into a sitting-up position. I need to remember what happened...

Shen Yuan recalled waiting to eat at home, reading some book on monsters.  His husband, Binghe, had been making lunch when his friend… Shang Qinghua. Right. He had come knocking on their door 

~

“If you’re here for food, you’re going to have to eat out of the pot again.” Shen Yuan told Shang Qinghua, whom he had just opened the front door to see. “We still have only two bowls.”

Shang Qinghua rolled his eyes. “You still haven’t gotten me my own bowl? I’m hurt cucumber-bro!” Shen Yuan scoffed in response while fanning himself, promptly turning and returning to the table he was sitting at. 

He watched as Shang Qinghua scurried in after him. “What, did you and Mobei-Jun have another fight?” Shen Yuan questioned, recalling the last time Shang Qinghua had come to their house randomly. 

“No! Well.. actually I was wondering if I could ask you something..?” Shang Qingua sat down across from Shen Yuan, seeming fidgety. Shen Yuan made a face.

“If you’re here for more relationship advice to not follow, you can turn right back around and leave.” He told him, causing Shang Qinghua to appear shocked and offended.

“Don’t give me that! It’s not my fault you give horrible advice!” Shang Qinghua said, crossing his arms. “How am I supposed to follow advice that’s… that’s too bold!”

“Shizun gives good advice, you’re just too cowardly to use it.” Luo Binghe’s voice could be heard from the kitchen. Shen Yuan had to clear his throat to hide the laugh that escaped him as Shang Qinghua went red. 

“Why don’t you follow your own advice? If I remember correctly, Binghe told me you gave him advice in front of Mobei-Jun…” Shen Yuan folded his fan and placed it down on the table as Shang Qinghua squeaked. It looked like he had been about to say something before both Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua’s attentions were instantly stolen away by a translucent blue rectangle.

The two of them were stunned into silence. 

[System update in progress…]

System update!? What the fuck is this!?!?!? Why is there an update after so long of not hearing from it!?

Shen Yuan looked over at his friend whose face had paled. Their eyes met before quickly returning to the blue window which had changed. 

[System update completed!] 

[New Story Extra (/◕ヮ◕)/ ! For this extra, you will be transported back to your original bodies (≧∇≦)/ !! Details will be provided later!!!] 

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!

Shen Yuan stood up suddenly, his face paling at the words of this stupid system that had already caused so much grief in his life. This CANNOT be fucking happening!!!!! He looked over to try and discuss this with Shang Qinghua only to find that his friend had vanished into thin air. 

“Shit-!!” Shen Yuan’s lips pressed together anxiously, preparing to turn to go get his husband. He was instead met with the sight of the system right before his eyes. 

[Safe Travels (*^▽^*) !]

WHAT?? NO- 

Shen Yuan’s vision was engulfed by darkness, the name, “Binghe!” Barely escaping his lips. 

~

Shen Yuan rubbed his temples as the memories came back to him. God fucking damn it!!! Stupid fucking system always ruining EVERYTHING!!!! He was practically fuming as he brushed his bangs out of his face. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his rising heart rate. I just have to figure out a way to get back. The system said it would give us details… It better fucking hurry up and tell me what the fuck I’m doing here!

He looked up to see his sister reentering the room with a few nurses. He internally cringed as the nurses began taking his blood pressure and heartbeat. He did NOT miss hospitals at all. He grew up in and out of them due to his weak immune system. On top of that, he had also seriously injured his knee when he was a kid which got even more ultra fucked up after a doctor attempted and failed at doing a knee replacement surgery. 

He was seriously going to miss being able to circulate spiritual energy through his body to heal when he was away from home.

“A-Yuan, how are you feeling?” Shen Mei sat on the edge of the bed next to Shen Yuan. “I already called A-Jiu, he should be on his way now.” She told him with a worried expression. 

Shen Yuan had to blink a few times. He was still getting used to hearing his old name and on top of that remembering all of his family. Even his old life was still fuzzy. Can you blame him? It’s been over 10 years!

“..how long have I been asleep?” He asked after a few moments. Please let it have been at least a year…

“It’s only been about 2 weeks, luckily. I found you in your apartment near dead with food poisoning.” She explained, looking down at the floor anxiously. Shit. It would be a lot more difficult now to explain why he couldn’t recall a lot of stuff now…

This god damned system better give me my way back home soon or I swear to fucking god… What is even the point of this!? I already miss Binghe... Shen Yuan gripped the hospital blanket tightly, frustration beginning to overwhelm his mind. Why did the system always interfere with his and his husband’s lives?? Haven’t they gone through enough???? It’s fucking bullshit! He should be able to live the rest of his days without the interference of the system! It has no right to be doing all of this-

“Shen Yuan?” His sister's voice broke him out of his daze. Only then did he realize his vision had clouded over with tears. He quickly wiped his face dry. “Are you-” Whatever she was going to say, much to Shen Yuan's relief, was cut off by the entrance of the doctor. Behind the doctor was who he, after a few moments, recognized as his twin brother, Shen Jiu. Who loved to use the fact that he was 3 minutes older in every argument. Or was it 2 minutes? He couldn’t remember, after all, it had been over a decade since he had to deal with him.

Shen Yuan hadn’t even realized he had gone into another daze until he felt a cold hand against his forehead. He stopped himself from flinching away when he realized it was just Shen Jiu. 

“Good, your fever broke.” Shen Jiu said, letting out a sigh of relief. Shen Yuan barely blinked at that. It wasn’t uncommon for him to get fevers in this body so he wondered why his brother seemed so worried. Oh, wait. Right. I had food poisoning. I guess that’s pretty worrying to have with a fever. 

“I’m fine.” He brushed Shen Jiu’s hand away. “I’ve been through worse.” He muttered. I’ve died and come back to life 3 times now. A little food poisoning is nothing. It’s especially nothing compared to Without a Cure. Then he realized, his siblings didn’t know that. He glanced up at them to see them wearing confused and concerned expressions. 

“Uh..” Shen Yuan desperately searched for a solution but nothing was coming to mind. “Uh.. the knee surgery I had as a kid was much worse..?” He tried. He couldn’t tell if it worked or not but this very awkward conversation was luckily interrupted by the doctor.

“I’m just going to ask you a few questions.” The doctor said. “Just to make sure your memory wasn’t affected.” Oh fuck. He was just hoping that it was all basic information

“The first question is easy. What’s your name?” Oh, that’s easy.

“Shen Qing-” Shen Yuan suddenly bit down harshly on his tongue, causing pain to prickle throughout his mouth. “Uh.. Shen Yuan. Sorry.” He quickly said. He watched as the doctor raised an eyebrow, writing something down before continuing. 

“How old are you?”

“20.” 

“Do you know where you are?”

“The hospital?” Shen Yuan hadn’t meant for his tone to be so mocking but to be fair, it was kind of a ridiculous question. Did they think he was blind???

The rest of the questions went smoothly. By the time the doctor had finished, Shen Yuan felt like his head was going to explode from annoyance. The entire time he kept glancing around to look for one of his fans and every time he had to remind himself that he no longer had his large collection of fans in this world. 

“Okay, we’re just going to keep you overnight and monitor you closely to make sure you’re truly alright.” The doctor said. “If all goes well, you should be discharged by tomorrow.”

Shen Yuan thanked the doctor before returning to his thoughts. This was extremely weird. The system should have appeared already. In fact, it should’ve given him his instructions as soon as it gave him this stupid side-story quest! What was the point of this? Couldn’t it have just put him through another cliche main character's wife gets poisoned trope??

If I don’t get back home within the next week, I might actually go insane. Or I might come back home to see the place torn apart by Binghe. He stifled a groan putting his forehead in his hands and rubbing his temples. 

“-see he’s not even paying attention to us now!” Shen Mei’s voice broke into his thoughts, snapping him back to reality. He blinked a few times, looking over at his bickering siblings. When had he gone back into his daze? This was beginning to become a problem. He immediately felt awkward when he saw how worried they looked. After all, these were siblings that he had already grieved losing them before. He thought he’d never see them again and if he was going to return home, he wished he didn’t have to be around them.

He’d prefer to not get reattached to them at all.

Chapter Text

Cucumber-bro if you’re reading this CALL ME ASAP!!!!!!!!!! XXX-XXX-XXXX

Shang Qinghua frantically texted his fellow transmigrator, his only hope of finding Shen Qingqiu was through the app he had published Proud Demon Immortal Way on. The thought of everything being a coma dream had crossed his mind, but it felt WAY too real for it to not have happened. He had to at least try to confirm it. 

Please God let it have been real… I don’t know if I can deal with these hospital bills. He had barely been getting by due to his rent prices and now he had to pay for the fees… his poor wallet. Now that Proud Demon Immortal Way was also done, he didn’t have a source of income right now! I want to go home to where I lived in my king's castle for free!! He cried internally (even though it technically wasn’t free with all the work he had to do…).

He laid face down on his couch as he groaned. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to warn his king about what was happening!! The last interaction between them had been embarrassing enough, now he was probably making it worse by vanishing like this! He swore one day he would see this system destroyed if it didn’t leave his life alone. 

He got up off of the couch, shuffling through his tiny apartment. On top of everything else annoying, it felt like it was 100x hotter than it normally was!!! He was sweating buckets to the point he had to turn the AC down as low as it would go! His king's intolerance of the heat was really rubbing off on him… It also didn’t help that the AC in his apartment building was complete ass. This was all he could afford though! It’s not like he was going to stay here for much longer… right? He’d wait as long as he needed as long as it meant he’d get back home soon. To his king. 

He went to his desk where his almost fried-beyond-repair computer was. He attempted to turn it on again but it simply just would not work. He groaned before opening up his phone to see if he had gotten any messages from Shen Qingqiu. Still radio silence. 

If only he hadn’t stomped away from his king for distracting him!! Mobei-jun probably thought he had run away again… but he really didn’t this time!! It didn’t matter, he had no way of telling his king that. He sighed as he recalled what had happened the day before, before he had gone to Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe’s home.

~

“My king, please, I need to get this work done!” Shang Qinghua exclaimed as Mobei-Jun once again, for the fifth time in the past hour, interrupted his work. He held back a sigh when he saw a frown growing on Mobei’s face.

“Look, I know you want me to work on stuff for the kingdom but I really need to finish this before!” He insisted. “Go burn an incense stick or something, I’ll be done by then” Why is he being so bothersome today!? He then turned back to his work after hearing Mobei’s footsteps slowly fade away into the distance. Only to hear them return about 5 minutes later. 

Shang Qinghua turned slowly in his chair to see his king once again standing by his side. He blinked a few times, extremely confused. What..

“I burnt an incense stick.” Stated Mobei-Jun.

“...Did you set the entire stick on fire and burn it in an instant?”

“..............yes.”

Shang Qinghua stared at him in disbelief. A long silence ensued before he got up and gathered his papers.
“What are you doing?” Mobei quickly questioned, confused as to why his human appeared to be leaving. 

“I’m going to my peak. Since there’s too many distractions around here.” 

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Bye.” Shang Qinghua quickly attempted his escape but it was short-lived. He felt Mobei-jun grab onto him almost instantly. He squirmed in the grip before resorting to his secret move… pinching his king's cheeks. 

“Hey-!” Mobei-jun quickly let go in an attempt to get away from this attack but Shang Qinghua had a firm grip. “Cease!!!! Cease this behavior!!!!!!” But Shang Qinghua would not relent. In fact, he pinched even harder! It got to the point that Mobei-juns eyes grew watery which led him to take another step back and ended up stepping on a calligraphy brush, causing him to lose his footing. Together, they tumbled down to the ground with Shang Qinghua’s papers flying everywhere. 

Mobei-jun took most of the impact of the fall, colliding with the ground harshly while Shang Qinghua had the safety of falling on top of him. Well, His face was definitely safe, as it landed on Mobei-Jun’s chest. After a few moments, Shang Qinghua finally pushed himself up to see that he had landed on top of his king, on his chest nonetheless. Their eyes locked onto each other as his face went a bright flushed red, Mobei-jun’s expression going blank. Shang Qinghua’s mouth hung open in shock. This… THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED- wait why is he not pushing me off?

Mobei-jun appeared frozen, so it was up to Shang Qinghua to frantically get onto his feet in a panic. He opened his mouth to apologize then stopped. Why should I apologize? He totally got what he deserved! Even if I did fall on his chest… it was all his fault!! He should have just let me leave!!!!!

No more words were exchanged before Shang Qinghua sprinted out of the room, leaving behind his king in a mess of papers. He wasn’t taking any chances for the situation to get even more awkward! He barely made it out of the castle by the time he had to take a break from running. His breathing was heavy as a thought flashed across his mind. Wait. What did he even want to talk about? Shang Qinghua had assumed that it was about work but he realized he never actually gave Mobei-jun the chance to say what he wanted to. 

Well, that just made this situation even more embarrassing! What if he had had a question completely unrelated to work? Or just want to talk to Shang Qinghua!? If that were the case, he had royally screwed up! It was too late, he had already fled. 

He had already begun moving to get back to An Ding by the time he realized he had left all of his paperwork scattered around his room. Therefore, there was not even a reason for him to go back to his peak. 

It’s around lunchtime… I wonder if Cucumber-Bro has anything to eat!

~

He was ripped out of his daydreaming by the sound of his phone's ringtone. He nearly dropped his phone with how quickly picked it up to see he was being called. It was an unknown ID. Please PLEASE don’t let this be spam and let it be Cucumber-bro! He took a deep breath before pressing the answer button, quickly holding the phone up to his ear. 

“Hello..?” Shang Qinghua hesitantly spoke first. 

“Airplane-bro?” The rough and tired sound of a man’s voice sounded from his phone's speaker. He let out the biggest sigh of relief he had ever in his life when he heard that response. 

“Cucumber-bro! Is that really you? What took you so long to call!?!?” 

There was an exasperated sigh from Shen Qingqiu. “I only just got discharged from the hospital the other day. Then I slept for nearly a whole day before finally finding my phone and charging it.” He explained. Ah, so he also ended up in the hospital.

“How are you feeling? Gotta feel better than me. Turns out, I got electrocuted!” Shang Qinghua laughed a bit. “A neighbor apparently heard me hit the floor and came in to find me on death's door.” 

“I’m fine.” Shen Qingqiu said. “I got food poisoning. My brother found me and took me to the hospital.” Shang Qinghua’s eyes widened at the mention of Shen Qingqiu having a brother. 

“Brother??? You never mentioned having a brother before!”
“He’s my twin brother. I also have a younger sister, she visited me often while I was in the coma.” Shen Qingqiu explained. “I have another older brother but we’re not close”

“Cucumber-bro, I had no idea you had so much family!” Shang Qinghua exclaimed. “You never mentioned them once… surely you missed them?”

“I grieved losing them when I first transmigrated. If anything, I want to get out of here as soon as possible so I don’t have to repeat that process.” Shen Qingqiu said flatly.

Shang Qinghua paused. It did make sense, if he had a family that he lost when he transmigrated surely he would feel the same. Right? Not that he had anyone to feel like that about. He was an only child with parents who didn’t speak to him anymore. He always wondered what it was like to have siblings. He had grown up very alone, he didn’t have many friends as he grew and even his parents didn’t pay much attention to him. That’s why he became a writer. It was an escape for him, writing characters was easier than it was to socialize. 

“Airplane?” Shen Qingqiu’s voice snapped him out of his mini-daze, causing him to realize he had gone silent.

“Ah, sorry Cucumber-bro!” He quickly apologized before remembering they had a huge issue at hand. “Have you heard anything from the system? Usually, it would have given us instructions by now but all I’ve had is radio silence.”

A few moments of silence passed when he asked. “No.” Shen Qingqiu’s voice finally sounded. “I was hoping you had heard something.” He admitted. Shang Qinghua groaned. 

“This really isn’t good. My king is going to think I ran away again!” He mentally beat himself up again. “And, my son is going to end up tearing that world apart looking for you! We might get back to see everything obliterated!!!” 

A disgusted sound came from Shen Qingqiu. “You seriously need to stop referring to my husband as your son. It’s weird as shit.” 

Shang Qinghua grinned. “What else would I call him? I created him, so he’s my son!”

“By that logic, Mobei-jun is also your son.” Shang Qinghua immediately cringed, feeling many regrets.

“Ew no! It’s different, much different!!!!” Shang Qinghua claimed. “My son is the main character, my pride and joy! My king is… well if I have to admit it he was entirely created based on my ideal type.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“And I thought my denial of me being gay was bad.” Shen Qingqiu snickered. “How did you go this long without realizing?”

Shang Qinghua gasped, faking offense. “You have no right!!” The two bickered for a good 5 minutes back and forth, ending with them both laughing their asses off. 

It took them both a good moment to catch their breaths before Shang Qinghua heard Shen Qingqiu let out an aggravated grumble.

“Shit, I have to go. My brother is about to get here.” He sighed. “He hasn’t left me alone ever since I got discharged.” Shen Qingqiu grumbled, clearly annoyed.

Shang Qinghua smiled a bit. “It’s totally cool Cucumber-bro, I’ll talk to you next time you’re free.” He reassured his friend. There was a pause before Shen Qingqiu responded.

“Qinghua.”
“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

Shang Qinghua was bewildered by this. “What for?”

“For the past few days, I felt like I was going insane. I was afraid everything that happened was just some coma dream.” Shen Qingqiu admitted. “So when I finally charged my phone and saw your message…” He trailed off. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t see it, but Shang Qinghua was grinning so wide that his face was beginning to hurt.

“Cucumber-bro…”

“Don’t make this weird!” Shen Qingqiu immediately sounded embarrassed, Shang Qinghua could almost imagine the look on his face. Well, kind of. His face was always covered up by a fan so he couldn’t imagine it perfectly.

“I won’t, I won’t!” Shang Qinghua laughed. “If I’m being honest, this call made me feel better too. I also thought that there was a chance I had dreamt it all up..” He sighed. “I’m glad I didn’t.” If he had, he would’ve lost maybe one of his only true friends. 

There was another short silence before there was the sound of a door opening.

“Shit- Call you tomorrow. Bye.” Shen Qingqiu hung up barely seconds afterward, leaving Shang Qinghua alone again. But this time, Shang Qinghua didn’t feel like he was truly alone. He now knew everything really had happened, and now he had his best friend to go through this with him.

Chapter Text

Mobei-jun watched as Shang Qinghua ran off, still in a daze over what happened.  It took him a good minute to finally return to his feet as he wished Shang Qinghua’s face was still on his chest. He looked around at the mess of papers their fall had caused, silently wondering if he had pestered Shang Qinghua too much. He didn’t even get to talk to him about what he wanted to, due to Shang Qinghua thinking he wanted him to do kingdom-related work (which, wasn’t true at all). It was in fact, completely unrelated to any work at all! It was pointless to mourn over the lost conversation right now. Shang Qinghua was already gone and left a mess behind.

He decided to clean the place up, startling every passerby at the sight of a king to be cleaning up his servant's mess. He didn’t care regardless, if they had a problem they could fight him. And lose. He neatly stacked the scattered papers on Shang Qinghua’s desk, hoping it wasn’t too disorganized. He knew his human was the type to be very messy but in an organized way so he tried his best to only pick up what he thought was scattered from the fall.

After he finished cleaning up, he decided he’d sit and wait for Shang Qinghua to come back. After all, he had left all his work here. So how would he be able to work on it at An Ding Peak? Surely he’d quickly come back after realizing. Right?

~

An hour had passed when Mobei-jun finally realized his human wasn’t returning for his papers. He got up out of the chair he had been waiting in and decided that he’d simply just go to An Ding Peak himself instead of waiting any longer. He took out his sword and effortlessly opened up a shadow portal that would take him to Shang Qinghua’s home on his peak.

He stepped into the portal, shortly coming out to see Shang Qinghua’s home. He sheathed his sword and walked up to the house, knocking on the door a few times before opening the door and walking in. To his surprise, Shang Qinghua wasn’t there. He stood there for a few moments, confused. Where could he be? He considered that maybe he had gone somewhere else on the peak and even thought of asking one of the disciples there but he quickly scrapped that idea. He’d most likely send any disciple screaming just by approaching them despite them knowing Shang Qinghua’s association with him.

After a moment of consideration, he decided he’d check Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu’s home. After all, Shang Qinghua did visit there every once in a while. He turned around, exiting the house and opening up another portal. He quickly arrived at the house in the mountains, glancing around. It was a very pretty place. Secluded too, not a soul to bother the newlyweds.

He approached the house only to freeze when he heard things in the house being thrashed and thrown around. Immediately sensing something was wrong, Mobei-jun quickly made his way to the front door. He raised his fist to knock on the door but before he could make contact with it, the door flew open to show Luo Binghe with a crazed expression. 

Mobei-jun’s eyes widened when he saw the wrecked home combined with how Luo Binghe was distressed. “What the-” He could barely get those words out before Binghe lunged forward, wrapping his hands around Mobei-juns throat and sending them flying back several feet. Alarm ran through Mobei-jun. What the fuck was going on? Why was Luo Binghe in such a state and where was Shen Qingqiu to calm him down? He gritted his teeth, trying to breathe as he clawed at Luo Binghe’s hands. He kicked out, hitting Binghe’s leg, and quickly took advantage of him losing his balance to deliver a punch to the stomach. 

Luo Binghe was sent a few feet back by the punch but seemed barely phased as he pounced back at Mobei-jun. Mobei-jun quickly rolled out of the way, getting back onto his feet in the process.

“Stop this at once!” He told Binghe. “What are you attacking me for!?” 

Binghe glared at him. “Where the fuck is Shang Qinghua!?”

Mobei-jun’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I do not know, I came here to look for him-” He barely finished his sentence when Luo Binghe launched another attack. Mobei-jun could barely dodge out of the way as Binghe’s long sharp nails grazed his cheek.

Mobei-jun’s mind raced. Something had to have happened to Shen Qingqiu for Luo Binghe to be acting this crazed. It somehow involved his own human as well. Had something happened to Shang Qinghua too? If he hadn’t caused Shang Qinghua to race out of the castle, could this have been avoided? He quickly scrapped that thought. What he should be worrying about was where Shang Qinghua was now and why he had incurred the wrath of the demon realm's ruler.

More blows were exchanged between the two demons, lasting a good while before the two finally split apart with Mobei-jun looking like a hurricane just hit him and Binghe breathing like he just ran a 50-mile marathon. 

“Go check.”

“Huh?” Mobei-jun blinked a few times, confused.

“For Shang Qinghua. He has to know where Shizun is.” Luo Binghe insisted. Mobei-jun ah’d internally. He had been right, something had happened to Shen Qingqiu. How did it involve Shang Qinghua, though? His tiny human was far from capable enough to kidnap someone as powerful as Shen Qingqiu, especially with Luo Binghe protecting him. He drew his sword, tearing open a portal to find his human. He silently hoped that he was able to find him, and quickly.

~

Luo Binghe was in a panic. His Shizun, his husband, the most important person in his life, vanished without a trace. There was no presence of anyone else in their home except for Shang Qinghua, who also vanished without a trace. He had just been making lunch for his dear husband when he heard him call out his name in a tone that made Binghe’s blood run cold. It sounded urgent, a tone he hadn’t heard his Shizun use ever. It sounded like he was in danger and Binghe was too late to protect him from whatever it was. By the time he was out of the kitchen and to where his husband should’ve been, he was gone. He had torn the house apart trying to find him, mind fogging over with panic. He couldn’t lose his Shizun again. Not again. Not after he had lost him so many times. He barely got through the previous times, he didn’t know if he could repeat the process. But, if he had to, he’d tear the whole world down to find his husband. 

He didn’t know why he attacked Mobei-jun. It was most likely because he would know where Shang Qinghua was, right? After their fight, after he demanded that Mobei-jun go find Shang Qinghua, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He hadn’t felt this kind of distress since his husband had self-destructed right in front of him. At least back then he had his Shizuns body. Now, he had no clue where he was. He had vanished into thin air leaving no clues as to where he was behind. 

He hadn’t left on purpose, right? There was no way. He couldn’t have, no one who tries to leave without a trace calls out to someone like that before vanishing. Besides, his Shizun had promised he wouldn’t leave again and he trusted him very much. 

By the time he had calmed down, it had been a little over an hour and Mobei-jun returned with the news that he couldn’t find Shang Qinghua anywhere. Even after searching the entire peak and their whole castle. Binghe stood there in deep thought for a few moments, finally coming to a conclusion.

“If.. If he’s nowhere to be found, he was likely taken by whatever took Shizun as well.” A tense silence overtook them. He watched as Mobei-jun’s usually cold and aloof expression cracked into a shocked one before returning to normal. Binghe could feel an unsettling air settle around them. Or maybe it was just Mobei-jun’s ice powers. 

Mobei-jun opened his mouth, assumingly to say something, but before anything could come out, a blue translucent window appeared before them. It spoke in a gender-neutral voice.

“What the-!?” Binghe took a step back, immediately going on guard. 

[System downloading…]

Binghe and Mobei-jun looked at each other, sharing an expression of confusion.

[System download complete!]

[Welcome to the system! You are invited to participate in a fun story extra!!  ヽ(^。^)ノ]

He stood there, dumbfounded. Story Extra?? What… just what the fuck was this thing!? How was it hiding its whatever energy? If the thing wasn’t right in front of Binghe, he would never have known it was here! 

[Would you like to know more information? Y / N]

Binghe stared at the blue pane before looking back over at Mobei-jun, who had his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the text. They met eyes, a brief moment passing before Mobei-jun nodded. Binghe quickly looked back and decided to poke at the ‘Y’ with his finger. The blue window vanished for a moment before popping back up.

[You are now guests! If you accept this optional story extra, you will have the chance to find those whom you hold very dear to your hearts! (＾ｕ＾) ]

Binghe’s eyes widened. “What do you mean!?” He urgently questioned. If he was correct, then this ‘system’ had his husband and was giving him the chance to get him back.

[You two will shortly be transported to a different world! Your task is to search around where you are placed to find your beloveds (๑ˇεˇ๑)]

A different world? The thought truly did make him nervous. If this system was lying about having his Shizun, then he would be stuck in a world without him. At the same time, he had to risk it. He had no other clues about where his husband had vanished to, if he didn’t take this chance then there was also the very likely possibility he would never see Shen Qingqiu ever again. He looked over at Mobei-jun who looked at him, seemingly reaching the same conclusion that Binghe had. 

“Hurry up and transport us then.” He stated. The system screen changed to a turning wheel. 

[Wonderful!!!!!! ＼(^o^)／ !!!!!!]

[Initiating transport… Please wait patiently.]

[Transport initiated. Estimated arrival time ~ 2 months]

What.

[Don’t worry! It will pass in the blink of an eye! Literally! (＾▽＾) Safe travels!!!!!]

~

Binghe blinked a few times, waking up in an unfamiliar place. He sat up, his head spinning as he looked around the area he was in. It was a kind of home. Before he could dwell on the topic of where the hell he was, something felt wrong. About himself. He felt… different? He clumsily got to his feet, giving himself a moment to re-orientate himself before discovering a mirror on the other side of the room he was in. He immediately saw changes in his appearance. The mark on his forehead was gone, his teeth were no longer sharp, his hair was less neat, and his clothes were completely different. He no longer wore his robes but was in… well he didn’t know how to describe it. It seemed to be shortened pants and what a robe would look like if the sleeves had been cut off and shortened to stop at his waist. Was this the kind of clothing that humans in this world wore? It was… well definitely something he was not used to.

Then he noticed the absence of his companion. He looked around the room, confirming the Mobei-jun was not there before deciding to leave the room. He opened the door which revealed an even bigger room. It had some sort of weird large rectangle that had a large couch with a table in front of it. It also had a kitchen with some weird items he’d never seen before. He noticed that there was a weird silver box that had a door that was slightly cracked open and curiously wandered over to it. As he approached it, he noticed a bunch of clear shelves scattered about the area around the box. Puzzled, he reached for the door handle and pulled it open. Well, it was safe to say that he found Mobei-jun. He stood there, dumbfounded. This box seemed to have some kind of cooling effect most likely for food. So why was there a demon lord in it?

The two met eyes, Mobei-jun’s expression quickly turning into a glare. Binghe had to stop himself from laughing. 

“Why are you-”

“Quiet.”

“You-”

“Silence.”

“It’s not even that warm in here!” Binghe finally couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore. He muffled a burst of laughs with his hand as Mobei-jun’s glare turned more icy. He knew the ice demon had a great intolerance of heat, but to go as far as to stuff his huge build into such a small box was hilarious! Utterly ridiculous! How could he not laugh at the sight? His laughter finally calmed down before he noticed how Mobei-jun’s appearance had also been altered. He was wearing the same kind of shirt that he had on but had some kind of baggy pants on instead of the shortened pants that Binghe had. Mobei-jun’s facial markings were also gone, along with his ears no longer being pointed.

He crossed his arms, tapping his foot a little before stepping away, leaving Mobei-jun in the weird cooling box. He walked over to a window, wondering what it looked like outside. He brushed the curtain, squinting for a second as his eyes adjusted to the light, almost immediately recoiling from the sight. It was extremely different compared to the sights at home, completely different. There were tall buildings everywhere and weird giant moving machines speeding by. He had to stop himself from moving away from the window. Instead, he examined the window for a few moments before figuring out how to open it. 

He thought, you know, that fresh air would be refreshing and helpful. No. His entire face scrunched up with disgust when he opened the window. The air that entered immediately made him want to vomit with how it burnt his nose and lungs. He slammed the window shut and quickly made his way far far away from the air he just let in. How was he supposed to go out and find his Shizun when the air smelled… Like that!!! How could the air possibly smell that horrible!? He took one whiff of it and it felt like he was being poisoned! How could the people outside act like everything was normal with how bad it smelled!?!??!?! He never thought he’d prefer indoor air over outdoor air yet here he is… He already missed home.

Oh, Shizun… let me find you quickly.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan was not doing good.

It had now been 2 months since he was transported back to his original body in his home world, 2 months without his husband. He missed him so fucking much. Ever since he had gotten back from the hospital, it felt impossible to get out of bed. He simply never had the energy or motivation. The only way he would get out of bed was usually when Shen Jiu or Shen Mei physically dragged him out. Sometimes when Shang Qinghua would call him just to talk, he’d get out of bed and make himself tea. 

He was still struggling to get used to using his arm crutch again. Sometimes, he would forget that he had to use it and end up crumpling to the floor when he took a step with the leg with his bad knee. He seriously missed his other body. 

He missed his husband even more. He missed Binghe so much, it was unbearable. The first week nearly drove him insane. He couldn’t sleep at all. The absence of Binghe’s warm presence and his comforting embrace caused Shen Yuan to gain serious insomnia. He couldn’t sleep no matter how hard he tried. Even now he still struggled to fall asleep and it was taking a toll on him.

He was gaining horrid dark circles under his eyes that were nearly impossible to cover even with full-coverage concealer and he was getting more and more frequent fevers due to the lack of sleep weakening his already weak body. His siblings came with the fevers. They always insisted on taking care of him when he was sick, which made his mission of staying away from them extremely difficult. He was desperately trying to stay unattached by reminding himself that he was going to lose them again when he returned home, but… but they were so fucking caring!!! He couldn’t go a day without one of them visiting and making him food!! They claimed the reason was that they didn’t trust him to make himself food without poisoning himself again but he could tell that it was just an excuse to visit him.

It was extremely annoying!! How was he supposed to avoid the people who kept waltzing right into his apartment? He didn’t want to change the code to his apartment, that was too much work. But he was considering it now!

Shen Yuan snapped out of his thoughts when there was a sudden bright light in his eyes. He hissed and tried to cover his eyes by rolling over and pulling the covers over his face but moments later his blankets were ripped away from him. He immediately sat up, glaring at the person who ripped them away. Well speak of the devil, it was his sister who did it! With Shen Jiu standing at the doorway! 

“A-Yuan, it’s already 2 o’clock! What are you still doing in bed!?” Shen Mei furiously questioned him.

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes and flopped back down on his bed. “Isn’t it obvious? Sleeping!” He said, trying to pull the blankets back over him only for his arms to be grabbed, pulling him back into a sitting position. 

“If you were for real sleeping this much, you wouldn’t be getting fevers every other day and have bags under your eyes.” Shen Mei told him as she put a hand against Shen Yuan's forehead. He swatted her hand away with a huff. 

“I’m fine.” He stated, turning his body so his legs hung over the side of the bed. “You don’t have to keep taking care of me.”

“If you actually took care of yourself, we wouldn’t be so worried about you dumbass.” Shen Jiu butted in, receiving a glare from Shen Yuan.

“You’re worrying for no reason, I’m fine!” He repeated, pushing himself off the bed's end and standing up. He was going to prove that he was totally fine, but he had another moment where he forgot about his knee and ended up proving the opposite by falling to the floor. Are you fucking kidding me. He could immediately feel his face heat up with embarrassment as both of his siblings instantly appeared at his side. 

“A-Yuan!” His sister worriedly said as she helped Shen Jiu get Shen Yuan off the ground. Shen Yuan escaped from his sibling's grasp and promptly grabbed his arm crutch. Shen Mei returned to his side even after he pushed her away. “A-Yuan, are you sure you’re okay?” She tried asking.

“How many fucking times do I have to say it, I’m fine!” Shen Yuan said in a much too harsh tone. Shen Yuan froze after the words came out of his mouth. He didn’t intend for it to come out that horrible, he was just irritated with how he was repeatedly being asked that question that always had the same answer. He hesitantly turned towards Shen Mei who had a hurt expression. “Meimei I’m sorry-”

“No! It’s fine!” Her expression shifted to an angry one. “So sorry for worrying about you! It’s not like you were just in the hospital for 2 weeks in a coma barely 2 months ago!” Shen Jiu tried to reach for her shoulder to calm her down but she avoided it. “I’m sorry for being worried about my stupid older brother who’s been holing himself up in his stupid room and refusing to get out of bed! If you want to rot in that bed, then go ahead!” She turned around stomping out of the room.

“A-Mei!” Shen Jiu called out for her before sighing and turning back to Shen Yuan, who had an ashamed expression on his face as he sat back down on his bed. 

Shen Yuan buried his face in his hands, feeling like the scummiest brother on earth. “I’m-” He sighed. “I’m sorry A-Jiu. I’ll be out soon, just give me a couple of minutes.” There was a short silence before he felt the bed sink in next to him with arms circling him shortly afterwards. He would never admit it, but it was comforting. 

“We’re really worried about you A-Yuan.” Shen Jiu whispered. “Please, if there’s something wrong, tell us.” Shen Yuan could feel the guilt eating away at him. How was he supposed to tell them that he had been transported to another world where he had spent 12 years living another life? A life where he had fallen in love and married a man? Hell, they didn’t even know he was gay. It was something he’d have to keep to himself. Besides, he’d get the opportunity to return home soon anyway. There was no point in telling them, it would just hurt more once he left again.

“..there’s nothing.” Shen Yuan replied after a long silence. He didn’t have to see Shen Jiu’s face to see he was disappointed.

“..Okay.” Shen Jiu pulled away and got up. “I’ll make some lunch for you to eat. Take your time.” Shen Yuan gave him a small nod to let him know he heard him as he left.

Shen Yuan felt ridiculous. For fucks sake, he was over 30 years old now! Even though he was in his 20-year-old body right now, he was still mentally older. So why was he acting like this? He took a deep breath, sitting upright and closing his eyes, letting his mind clear up. 

After a few moments, there was a sudden blue light that hit Shen Yuan’s eyelids. His eyes flung open and he was met with the sight of the system finally appearing again. His breath was caught in his throat as he stared at the little blue window.

[Side story update: the search begins!]

What did this mean? Search? Who was searching? Were they supposed to search for something? “What search!?” He whisper yelled at the system.

[Your husbands search for you silly! ∩(·ω·)∩]

[and of course, Mobei-jun’s search for Shang Qinghua.]

His entire body froze. Binghe was looking for him? Did that mean he was here, in this world? Did this mean he could finally see him again!? He mindlessly fumbled around for a moment trying to find his phone before finally picking it up. He unlocked it in an instant, quickly searching for Shang Qinghua’s contact. Before he could click the call button, his phone screen suddenly showed he was receiving a call from him.  He answered instantly, putting the phone up to his ear. 

“Cucmber-bro-”

“Did you get a notification from the system!?” Shen Yuan questioned urgently.

“Yes!” Shang Qinghua replied excitedly. “I’m assuming you got it too then? This is such a relief, I was beginning to think we’d never hear from it again! Bro, it has to mean that my son and my king are here in this world looking for us!”

Shen Yuan could feel his lips tugging up into a smile. The thought of him and Binghe finding each other again was exhilarating. He could feel his stomach twist with hope and tears pricking at his eyes. He was relieved. So relieved. He didn't know how much longer he could take this. “Are you free right now?” He asked.

“Yeah, not doing much. Why?”

“Do you want to meet up?” He knew that they lived near each other, they had already shared their addresses in case of emergencies.

“YES!” Shang Qinghua sounded extremely excited. “Bro I’ve been waiting so long to finally meet up with you but you were always sick!” 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you can blame this stupid body of mine for that. Where do you want to meet?”

“There’s a cafe that’s right in between our places. I’ll send the address to you.”

“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as possible then.”

“Okay! See you then!”

Shen Yuan hung up the phone, quickly getting up off of the bed (but this time remembering his crutch) and going over to his closet to change. He threw on some of the newer clothes he had gotten in the time he had gotten back. He had ordered pretty much an entire new wardrobe along with a new collection of fans. The clothes he had gotten resembled his style in PIDW’s world, just to make him feel a bit more at home. They were nowhere near like the robes he would wear since well, he couldn’t wear something like that without looking like a cosplayer. They were just more flowy and nicer clothes with the same color scheme. As much as he loved his other clothes (which were just a bunch of merch), he would’ve felt even more crazy in them. They would’ve made him feel like he was becoming a part of this world again.

After getting ready and pulling his hair into a low ponytail, he put his glasses on and exited his room. He fumbled around with his phone before calling his driver. He could feel Shen Mei and Shen Jiu looking at him funny. After ending the call with the driver he turned to them. 

“I’m sorry, I have to go. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He opened his apartment door to leave but he was quickly stopped by Shen Jiu.
“Wait!” He exclaimed. “Where are you going? At least eat first-”

Shen Yuan sighed. “I’m just meeting up with a friend. I’ll eat where we’re meeting up.” He told his brother. He grabbed a fan hanging off a rack by the front door. “Don’t worry, I’ll be safe and be responsible, blah blah blah… I’ll be back soon.” He didn’t give them another chance to stop him. He quickly closed the door behind him as he walked out of the apartment and got onto the elevator.

~

When Shang Qinghua got the notification from the system, he was beyond excited. He had only been back for 2 months but he was already sick and tired of paying taxes again. Since Proud Immortal Demon Way had been finished right before he died, he didn’t have something to work on and post to get his income. While he still was getting money from it, it was barely enough. 

But! He finally got his bro Shen Qingqiu to meet up with him! And this time it was Shen Qingqiu who asked him!!! He’d been trying to meet up with him ever since they got back but Shen Qingqiu was always either sick or busy with something else. If Luo Binghe and Mobei-jun were truly here, that means that they could finally go home! 

He had rushed to get ready before speeding on his bike to the location they had agreed to. It was a small local cafe that he’d always gone to before since it was relatively cheap. It was perfectly in the middle of their places too, so very convenient! He got off his bike and chained it to the bike rack before beginning to head in, only to stop when he saw a costly car pulling up to the cafe. He snorted at the sight of it. Pretentious asshole. Who would even bring a luxury car to this part of town? He watched as a man with an arm crutch got out of the backseat. He was tall and kind of handsome (nothing compared to his king, though) but he also had major eyebags and looked a little frail. He wore some pretty plain clothes but Shang Qinghua could tell from here that they had to be designer brand, it was that nice of quality. 

He began to turn away when the guy pulled out his phone, assumingly calling someone. Shang Qinghua froze when his phone buzzed. He slowly reached into his pocket, looking at the caller ID to see it was Shen Qingqiu calling. He looked back and forth between his phone and the guy before answering it. 

“Hello…?”

“Are you here yet?” Shen Qingqiu’s voice sounded at the same time the guy's mouth moved and also made sound. Safe to say that Shang Qinghua’s mouth dropped. 

“Hello?? Airplane-bro????” Shen Qingqiu sounded extremely confused. Then he fell quiet as the guy suddenly looked at Shang Qinghua. “Airplane… are you the idiot staring at me dumbly right now?”

Shang Qinghua was stunned even further. “I... I might be…” He couldn’t believe this. The guy he was just calling a pretentious prick, was Shen Qingqiu! He could almost laugh at how ridiculous this was. 

He observed his friend. He didn’t look all that different if he was being honest. He was about the same height as his other body, the only differences were that he had glasses, an arm crutch, and hair that went a little ways past his shoulders pulled into a ponytail. Facial features-wise, everything was almost the same. Although, his features were slightly more… softer if that made sense. Not as sharp and deadly. 

He quickly made his way over to Shen Qingqiu after hanging up, his mind racing with questions. There were so many that anything that came out of his mouth was a bunch of nonsense. Before he knew it, he was smacked with a fan. “Owwwww… I never thought I’d be smacked with a fan in this world…” Shang Qinghua pouted as Shen Qingqiu scoffed.

“As if I’d go anywhere without a fan.” With that, Shen Qingqiu flicked his fan open and started fanning himself. “How’d you manage to get even shorter?” 

Shang Qinghua gasped with deep offense. “Not cool bro! Not cool!” He said which caused Shen Qignqiu to laugh. 

The two went inside the cafe after their usual banter, grabbing a booth before ordering a few drinks. They chatted for a bit about their usual topics, how they’re doing, how they hate doing taxes, etcetera. Eventually, Shang Qingqiu did crack and finally asked Shen Qingqiu what was up with the arm crutch. 

“Ah, fucked up my knee when I was a kid. Got surgery from a doctor who fucked it up even further.” That was all he got. Well, shit. Remind me to never fuck my knees up! He did not want that to happen to him!

Once their drinks were served to them, they both sat in a nice quiet for a couple of minutes as they drank. Shang Qinghua glanced back up at Shen Qingqiu, noticing for real this time how bad his eyebags were. From afar he already looked pretty rough but up close, he could tell that Shen Qingqiu was very sleep-deprived. He couldn’t blame him, Shang Qinghua himself was also having difficulties sleeping. It was difficult sleeping knowing that he may never return to their other world. Even though this world was his original world, where he had first been born, it hadn’t been kind to him. Not that the other had been, but it was still better. After all, it was where his king was. 

“So, how have you been coping?” Shang Qinghua finally broke the silence, seemingly catching Shen Qingqiu off guard. 

Shen Qingqiu shifted a bit in his seat, taking another sip of his drink before finally answering. “Been fine, I guess.” He said. “My brother and sister won’t leave me alone for more than a few hours a day.”

Shang Qinghua stared at him. “Fine my ass, you look worse than I’ve ever seen you.”

Shen Qingqiu shot him a glare. “Oh yeah? The fuck do you know?” Ah, there was the asshole he knew. 

“Bro, no offense, but you look worse than you did when my son was in the abyss.” Shang Qinghua leaned back, crossing his arms. “You look like you haven’t got a wink of sleep since we’ve been here.”

Shen Qingqiu’s eyes narrowed. “I was perfectly fine during the time he was in the abyss. Still don’t know why you guys were being ridiculous and saying I was ‘Out of my mind with grief’.” He scoffed. 

Shang Qinghua looked dumbstruck. Did his bro not realize how much of a widow he acted like during those 3 years? He had heard about how sometimes Shen Qingqiu had called out Binghe’s name a couple of separate times, his disciples would always talk about it. “You’re kidding right?” Shang Qinghua got one look from Shen Qingqiu and that was enough to deduce that he was in fact, not joking. “Dude. Bro. With all due respect, they weren’t lying.”

“Shut your mouth!” Shen Qingqiu hissed, causing Shang Qinghua to back off. He knew that the abyss years had been a pretty horrible time for his bro, so he wasn’t about to resurface that negative emotion (as much as he loved poking fun at Shen Qingqiu). 

Shang Qinghua sighed in defeat. “Okay, fine fine.” He said. “But still, you look like you’ve gone through hell and back.”

“Yeah, I noticed, thanks.” Shen QIngqiu rolled his eyes. 

They ended up getting desserts to snack on as well. 

“Okay, so if my king and my son are actually here like the system said, we gotta find them right?” Shang Qinghua inquired. He didn’t know how they were going to find them, especially if their appearances were changed. What he was really hoping for, was that they were actually in the same area. Not in some other country. If they were somewhere far away, he was going to fight the system. Somehow.

Shen Qingqiu sighed. “Yeah, we’re gonna have to. There’s no way they can find us with only them being the ones searching.” He said. “Either way, it’s going to be difficult. If we meet up more often, we’re more likely to spot them.”

“Mn…” Shang Qinghua did his best to think of something. He sighed. “If only you still had Binghe’s blood parasites, then he’d be able to locate you instantly!”

“Yeah, that would be so much more convenient.” Shen Qingqiu snorted. Another silence occurred between them as Shen Qingqiu rested his arm on the table then his forehead against his palm. 

“Hey, we’re going to find them, okay?” Shang Qinghua wasn’t the kind of person to comfort another, but his best friend was in clear distress. He knew this was taking a huge toll on him. After seeing him in a near non-responsive state when Binghe had gone into the abyss while he was a disciple, he couldn’t imagine what was going through his head while he was forcefully separated by the cruel system when Binghe was his husband.

He watched as Shen Qingqiu’s expression twisted into something he had never seen before. Shen Qingqiu looked like he was genuinely on the verge of tears.

He flicked his fan open once again, hiding his face behind it. “I know that.” He said after a few moments. “I’m… I’m still afraid that we won’t.” It came out as a whisper that Shang Qinghua could barely hear. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he carefully thought of what to say. 

“Well, knowing my son, he won’t stop at anything to find you. I’m pretty sure he’d burn down the entire earth to find you.” Shang Qinghua chuckled. “I think… I think that if we were meant to never be found, the system wouldn’t have told us they were here.”

~

Shen Yuan paused, carefully thinking over what Shang Qinghua told him. What he had said was strangely comforting. He could even feel himself relax, just a little. “Yeah…” He breathed out. “Yeah, you’re right.” He gripped his crutch tightly and closed his eyes. The image of Binghe flashed through his mind, filling him with a warm feeling. He was still anxious about being apart from Binghe this long, but they were going to find each other. They always found each other. They had found each other after the abyss, they had found each other after the 5 years that Shen Yuan had been dead, no matter what they would find each other again. Even if they were in separate worlds, there would be a way. 

He would find his husband, no matter what it took. 

~

After a short while, they decided to leave the cafe. Shen Yuan’s brother had been calling him over and over after two hours passed, asking where he was. He offered to give Shang Qinghua a ride back to his apartment but he declined, saying he had rode his bike here. Shen Yuan had never understood the appeal of bikes but then again, with his knee, he had never been able to ride one anyway. 

Before they split, Shen Yuan suddenly remembered. “Oh, by the way, just in case you call me and one of my siblings answers, my actual name is Shen Yuan.” He told Shang Qinghua, who’s eyes widened a little. 

“Woah bro, you’ve had this similar of a name to the scum villain this whole time?” He questioned with a laugh.

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “I’m only telling you because if you ever spam call me while I’m sick, one of my siblings are likely to pick up. I don’t need you asking about ‘Shen Qingqiu’.” He said. 

Shang Qinghua grinned. “Thanks for telling me then!” He said before unchaining his bike from the rack. “We should meet up again soon, maybe tomorrow?”

Shen Yuan nodded. “Yeah, I should be free. Unless I get sick or my siblings force me to do something.” He said, noticing his driver pulling up to the cafe. “Well, if everything goes fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He began to walk towards the car before he was stopped by Shang Qinghua. Then something completely unexpected happened. 

Shang Qinghua had hugged him. What the fuck.

Okay, as comforting as this hug was, it was really fucking awkward. “Uhhhhhhhhhhh………” Shen Yuan didn’t know what to say. Listen, he was only used to Binghe giving him physical affection!!! He never expected Airplane-bro to do anything even remotely close to comforting him!!!! They were always about poking fun at each other and getting into heated arguments for shits and giggles! Never in his life had he dreamed they would one day hug!!!!!!!!!!

Shang Qinghua pulled away after only a few seconds, seeming a bit embarrassed himself. “Listen, cucumber-bro, you gotta stay strong dude. Uhh.. I’m not very good at pep talks but…” He trailed off. “My point is! Don’t go shutting down on me! I can’t do this alone!!” Shang Qinghua was turning redder with every word he said. 

Shen Yuan was stunned. He quickly flicked his fan open, frantically trying to cool down his growingly warm face. “Yeah- Yeah yeah, don’t worry. I won’t.” He forced out. 

Shang Qinghua nodded as he got onto his bike. “...Okay bye!” His voice came out as a bit squeaky as he quickly sped away. Shen Yuan wasted no time getting into his car, trying to process what just happened. 

Well, whatever had happened, he wouldn’t dare admit that it had actually worked in comforting him. It had to be the insanity of not seeing Binghe for two months. There’s no way that stupid author would have ever managed to comfort him! 

Oh, who was Shen Yuan fooling? As much as he hated to admit it, he truly appreciated Shang Qinghua. He was his best friend, and honestly? The only reason he had stayed sane these last 2 months. He was really glad to have him by his side. Their meet-up had grabbed his shriveled-up hopes and replenished them. 

He was going to find Binghe, and Shang Qinghua would find Mobei-jun. They were going to get back to their home, no matter what.

Chapter Text

It took them a good few hours to finally get the courage to get out of the home they were staying at. The air burned Luo Binghe’s eyes as he stepped out of the building and he tried to breathe in but he ended up coughing. He could hear Mobei-jun struggling to prevent himself from coughing as well. 

“How can the outside air be this bad?” Binghe questioned through clenched teeth. There was a grunt of agreement from Mobei-jun. He squinted as he forced himself to walk further. It didn’t help that it felt like he was going to melt with this heat. He had no idea how Mobei-jun was handling it. When he looked back at him, the ice demon was moving sluggishly, already sweating buckets even after only being outside for a couple of minutes even with his hair put up into a high bun to keep the hair off of his neck. Binghe just kept his in his normal high ponytail.

Binghe had found out that in the short time that they’d been here he no longer had his ability to access dream realms, nor did Mobei-jun have his ice powers. The only thing that the two demons had retained was their heightened senses and unnatural strength. Mobei-jun’s sword was also gone, so no ripping portals to travel, unfortunately. Xin Mo was also gone, but not really. It had been turned into a key. When Binghe had pulled it out, the system came up, providing a description. 

[Important Item! Xin Mo key - Uses: Can be used once to return the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way! AKA your homeworld]

It had also given them other things, Binghe discovered. He found a bunch of this world's currency along with some non-perishable foods. Something called ramen? It looked like rock-hard noodles. Whatever it was, they had a lot of it. 

Braving against the horrendous air quality and blistering heat, Binghe and Mobei-jun began their search for their humans. 

~

Not even an hour later they had to take shelter in a store. It was about midday when the heat was the worst it could get. Binghe thought Mobei-jun was about to collapse any second so he dragged his friend into some random shop that had a huge fan and placed Mobei right in front of it.

“Stay here, I’ll go see if they have water here.” He told Mobei-jun who didn’t even seem to hear. He was too memorized with the fan that was cooling him down. Binghe searched around the store, eventually finding a bunch of water in these round clear containers. He grabbed two of the largest ones before looking around some more, stumbling upon what was labeled as masks. There was a little painting on the bag that it was contained in with this black cloth that covered the person's face. He curiously grabbed it, reading the details that were on the bag. It was a facial mask that could filter air! His eyes lit up with realization– this could fix their problem! This could presumably filter the air enough to not burn his lungs with whatever was in the air! He quickly grabbed one for himself and another for Mobei-jun.

After buying them, he returned to Mobei-jun who seemed to be much better than before. He handed Mobei-jun one of the waters before opening his own and taking a drink. He nearly choked in shock when the taste hit his tongue. He visibly cringed at the taste. How the fuck did they manage to fuck up water!? As much as he wanted to get rid of the taste in his mouth, the water truly was very refreshing. Mobei-jun seemed to have reached the same conclusion after tasting the water himself. 

After they both managed to chug down the water, Binghe ripped the mask's packaging and fumbled around with it before putting it on. Mobei-jun watched him curiously as he stepped outside to test it. His eyes widened in shock when the horrid air wasn’t awful! He shared the discovery with Mobei-jun who seemed extremely relieved after putting the mask on. They did their best to continue searching but after half an hour, they ended up back at the place where they had first arrived. Mobei-jun sulked in the cooling box as Binghe paced back and forth. 

“We can just go looking when the sun goes down. It’ll be cooler by then, won’t it?” Binghe thought aloud. There was a faint agreement from Mobei-jun as Binghe eventually sprawled out on the couch.

If he didn’t find his Shizun soon, these were about to be the longest days of his life.

~

A week and a half had passed. Mobei-jun was frustrated beyond belief. 

He thought that this search would be easy, that they’d find their humans within a few days. Instead, they were still searching close to 2 weeks later. Mobei-jun didn’t realize he could miss a person so much until now. Every day without Shang Qinghua grew an ache in him and the search for him and his friend was not going well.

He and Luo Binghe went out every single day looking for the pair of humans only to come home with no progress. Even the stupid blue entity was of no use to them. It refused to give them any clues as to where their humans were, saying that it was a part of the challenge.

Today, they decided that they would split up to cover more ground and would meet up back at their temporary residence. Luckily for Mobei-jun, the heat wasn’t as bad today. It was quite cloudy with a nice breeze so for once, he wasn’t sweating and on the verge of passing out from the heat! 

He adjusted the face mask he had on as he walked around the city, desperately searching for the familiar face of his airheaded assistant. He didn’t know what he was going to do if he never found Shang Qinghua, especially if that meant he never got the chance to tell him what he wanted to. He had to find him, or else he’d bear the biggest regret for the rest of his life. 

He walked past a shop that contained different types of animals, and a certain species caught his eye. He paused in his walking, looking through the window to see a bunch of small round critters running around in their containment. A little sign was at the bottom of the cage, titling them ‘hampsters’. They reminded him of Shang Qinghua. Small, skitterish, round cute cheeks, and adorable eyes. He almost wanted to go into the shop and take them all for himself. However, he did prefer his Shang Qinghua over the little creatures. 

He resumed walking down the street, staying on the farthest part from what he had learned were called ‘cars’. Whatever they were, he hated them. He hated most things in this world. The air quality, the state of the environment, the buildings, the heat, everything just seemed shitty compared to his world. He was wishing he were home already with Shang Qinghua in the northern desert, where it was nice and cold. Nowhere near as warm as it is here. 

He eventually came across another shop, this time there were many humans inside. There was a lot of seating but it didn’t seem to be a restaurant. Or, maybe it was. Did humans have shops for just drinks? As he scanned the interior, his eyes fell upon a face that seemed very familiar. He froze for a moment before turning around, and making his way to the entrance. One of the humans near the entrance welcomed him but he paid them no mind as he quickly walked to the table where he had seen the familiar face. The man was sipping his drink as Mobei-jun approached, looking up at him in confusion. If he wasn’t mistaken…

“Shen Qingqiu?” Mobei-jun asked, pulling down his mask so the man could see his face. The man choked on his drink in shock, coughing for a good bit before finally staring at Mobei-jun with his mouth hung agape. 

“Mobei-jun!?” The man stood up, almost immediately sitting back down after his face twisted up in pain. Mobei blinked in confusion. Well, this man had to be Shen Qingqiu, but why did he seem so pained when he stood up?

“Are you injured?” He questioned. Binghe would kill him if he let Shen Qingqiu walk around hurt.

Shen Qingqiu waved his hand. “Never mind that, it’s not something that can be fixed, but you’re really here, right? I’m not hallucinating you?”

Mobei-jun took a seat across from Shen Qingqiu. “Is Shang Qinghua with you?” He asked instead of responding. The human blinked a few times before ‘ah’ing. 

“Well, not right now. But I can call him. He’d definitely want to see you ASAP.” Mobei-jun felt a strange twist in his stomach when Shen Qingqiu said that. He’d want to see me? He watched as Shen Qingqiu pulled out something from his pocket, tapping on it a few times before tapping it once more. A strange noise came from the device as Shen Qingqiu held it in front of him flat out. 

“Hello??” To Mobei-juns bewilderment, a voice sounded from the weird object.

“Dude, get to our usual spot right now.” Shen Qingqiu spo

“Huh?? Why?”

“Just get your ass over here!”

“Dude, that’s such a long walk! My bike tire is popped and I can’t afford to get a new one with these rent prices!”

Shen Qingqiu had a confused expression. “You’re struggling with rent? Why didn’t you tell me? I can just pay it for you.”

“Wait, seriously!? Do you even have enough money for that??”

“I probably have enough to get you a new nicer apartment and bike.” Shen Qingqiu snorted. “Anyways– not the point of the conversation! Get your ass down here because your king is sitting right across from me!”

There was a short silence before the voice from the strange object shrilly screamed, “WHAT!?” A few people around them turned to stare as Shen Qingqiu’s face suddenly grew red. He flicked his fan open, hiding himself from the staring faces. 

“Dude, shut the fuck up you’re on speaker phone.” He hissed into the object. 

“Oh my god okay I’m on my way-” There were shuffling sounds before the object beeped and there was silence.

Shen Qingqiu sighed, rubbing his temples before looking back at Mobei-jun. “Okay, he’ll be here soon. Firstly, is Binghe with you?”

Mobei-jun was taken aback by the desperation in Shen Qingqiu’s voice and eyes. It was then he started noticing everything wrong. Shen Qingqiu had heavy bags under his eyes and his body language showed that he was exhausted, not to mention his hair was frizzy and unkempt. After a split-second, Mobei-jun nodded.

“We’ve been here for about 12 days, today we split up to cover more ground. He’s most likely out, still searching for you.”

It was like a heavy burden was lifted off of Shen Qingqiu’s shoulders. He visibly relaxed when Mobei-jun confirmed Luo Binghe was in fact in this world with him.

“Oh thank god.” He whispered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in and out. Mobei-jun sat quietly as Shen Qingqiu collected himself. No more words were exchanged between them for the next 5 minutes.

Suddenly, the door to the shop burst open as a short panting man stumbled in. Mobei-jun and Shen Qingqiu looked at him at the same time.

“Ah, there he is.” Shen Qingqiu said. Mobei-jun didn’t even have to say anything. He could immediately tell it was his human. Even though his appearance was so different, his hair was short and more curly instead of long and wavy, the color being a deeper brown instead of light, his eyes were slightly rounder, freckles dusted his face, and Mobei-jun realized after he stood up that he was shorter as well, he could tell it was him. A strange twisting feeling appeared in his stomach again as he felt his breath catch in his throat. Their eyes met for a moment, the longest and happiest moment of Mobei-jun’s life before they both moved forward. 

The world slowed as the demon and human collided, arms wrapping around each other. Mobei-jun held on tightly to the smaller human, never wanting to let go again. After a few moments, Shang Qinghua began to squirm in Mobei-jun's arms. 

“My king, as great as your chest is, it is suffocating me–” Shang Qinghua’s muffled voice came from below. Mobei-jun was hesitant, but he let go, only to hold onto Shang Qinghua’s hands instead. 

“Qinghua.” He looked right into his eyes.

“Huh?” The smaller human looked up at him with glittering eyes. Mobei-jun bit the inside of his lip.

“The conversation I meant to have with you. I had a question.”

Shang Qinghua tensed up, looking a little guilty. “Ah, I’m sorry about that! I didn’t mean to uh…” He shuffled his feet a little. “Sorry, I ran out like that.” His face flushed red with embarrassment. 

Mobei-jun shook his head. “It is fine.” He told Shang Qinghua, who looked away before looking back as if asking Mobei-jun what his question was supposed to be.

He blinked a few times before realizing it. “Ah,” He hesitated for a moment before remembering, that if he didn’t take this chance then he might lose him all over again. “Qinghua, I wanted to ask you…”

~

“...Have you noticed that I’ve been courting you?” 

Oh. 

OH.

OH MY GOD. When Shang Qinghua heard that his king had a question, that was NOT what he was expecting. It was the last conversation he was expecting to have in a coffee shop, surrounded by people who probably thought they were roleplaying weirdos, and in front of his bro.

Sure, he could tell something was up when Mobei-jun had begun giving him a bunch of very expensive-looking jewelry and hair accessories, not to mention the gorgeous fur cloaks that he received every time Mobei-jun came back from a long journey, but to find out that his king was in fact, courting him!? It seemed absurd!!!! How could someone so fucking handsome, the guy who he thought was a model when he walked in, be courting him!?!? 

He was mediocre at best! Especially in his original body, he looked like a complete wreck compared to his king's beauty! His clothes were all cheap material and had various holes sewn up since he couldn’t afford to buy new ones. How can he ask me this when I’m in such a horrid state!? He cried internally. Not to mention! He was covered in sweat from running all the way here!!!! He turned a 20-minute walk into a 5-minute run!!!! He couldn’t stutter out a word as he felt his face heat up and his hands sweaty.

Mobei-jun glanced away. “I… I do not know much about human courting… I apologize if I was not clear with my intentions.” When Shang Qinghua looked up at his king, he was astonished to see a hint of pink on Mobei-jun’s cheeks. 

“But... But why me?” Shang Qinghua whispered.

Mobei-jun blinked a few times, seeming confused at the question. He opened his mouth to say exactly why but Shang Qinghua quickly covered his mouth.

“Wait no! Never mind– don’t say it here!” He quickly said, growing redder and redder. Mobei-jun reached up, holding Shang Qinghua’s hands and carefully moving them to the sides of his face instead. He slightly turned, his lips giving Shang Qinghua’s palm a gentle kiss. Shang Qinghua’s stomach fluttered, his breath catching in his throat.

“Are you two done?” Shen Yuan’s voice sounded from behind them. The two froze, suddenly becoming very aware that they were in a public area doing this. Shang Qinghua had a very embarrassed expression on his face while Mobei-jun’s cheeks were slightly pink. Shen Yuan leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms with his folded fan in hand. “If you’re done, Mobei-jun, how did you and Binghe even get here?”

The question seemed to catch Mobei-jun a little off guard. To be fair, Shang Qinghua had also been wondering the same thing but he had been distracted by how handsome his king looked like this. Can you blame him? The man looked like he could be a celebrity! Especially with the face mask pulled under his chin and his hair pulled up into a high bun, not to mention the tank top he was wearing revealed his gorgeous muscles– okay Shang Qinghua was beginning to get off topic.

“I do not know exactly how to describe it… but I believe it called itself ‘The System’.” Mobei-jun eventually said. Shang Qinghua froze. The system showed itself to them? 

Shen Yuan’s expression shifted to very uneasy and stressed. “Does it appear as a sort of blue translucent window with words on it?” He asked with an unsteady voice.

Mobei-jun nodded and Shang Qinghua felt his blood run cold.

“What did it say to you!? It didn’t make you do anything right!? My king the system is very dangerous–” He stopped when he felt a hand gently squeeze his leg. He glanced down at the hand before realizing it had been Mobei-jun. He looked back up at him still filled with worry.

“It did not say much to us, it just told us that we were guests and that our task was to find you two before transporting us here.” He told Shang Qinghua, who sighed with relief. “Are you familiar with the system?” 

Shang Qinghua glanced over at Shen Yuan who held his gaze for a moment. “Do you want to tell him or should I?” Shen Yuan asked. Shang Qinghua looked away before looking back at Mobei-jun.

“My king…” He hesitated. “The world that we’re in right now, is where me and him are really from.” He said carefully, as Mobei-jun’s expression turned confused. He put his hand over Mobei-jun’s before explaining how he and Shen Yuan were both originally born in this world before eventually dying and being transmigrated to the other world. “When we died, I was put into Shang Qinghua’s body and Cucumber-bro was put into Shen Qingqiu’s body.”

Mobei-jun looked conflicted. “When… When did this happen?” He asked after a moment of hesitation. 

“Ah, don’t worry! The me you’ve known has always been me. I was transmigrated at birth so I was born and raised in that body. It was a really weird experience if I’m being honest…” He quickly explained. Mobei-jun seemed to relax at that.

“Oh, okay.” A small silence followed after. 

“You’re… You’re okay with it?” Shang Qinghua blinked a few times. 

Mobei-jun shrugged. “Well, you just said the you that I’ve known has always been you.” He said as if it were the most important part. Shang Qinghua sat there in disbelief. The secret that he had been hiding this whole time, Mobei-jun was just okay with it? 

“What if I told you, that the world you’re from was created by me? A story that I wrote? If I told you that you and everyone else were characters that I created?” The words just spilled out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Mobei-jun’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Was I your favorite?” He asked after a moment. It left Shang Qinghua stunned. 

“Well, he did base you off of his ideal type.” Shen Yuan said with laughter in his voice.

“BRO!” Shang Qinghua’s face turned bright red. “You snitch ! I should have never told you that!” He cried in embarrassment before looking back at Mobei-jun, about to explain himself, but instead, he was greeted with a beautiful sight. Mobei-jun was smiling and seemingly holding a laugh back.

Shang Qinghua blinked a few times before a smile crept onto his face. “Are you… Are you laughing at me!?” A hint of laugher infected his voice as he questioned his king, who ended up snorting and smiling even bigger. 

“Was I really your favorite?”

“Of course you were!” 

“Then that is all that matters to me.” Mobei-jun told him, turning his hand over to grab onto Shang Qinghua’s and giving it a squeeze. Shang Qinghua could feel his heart melt. He wasn’t sure how he got so lucky that Mobei-jun was so laid back with this. 

“Okay, if you two are done being gay in front of me I need to ask you something.” Shen Yuan’s voice broke through their little moment.

“Bro. Totally ruining the moment here.” Shang Qinghua said with a glare, only receiving the sound of Shen Yuan making a loud annoying sound with his straw as he drank through it. “Fine fine! What is it!?”

“Well, two things. One, do you know which way Binghe went when you two split up?” Shen Yuan turned to look at Mobei-jun as he asked the question.

Mobei-jun nodded, his expression going back to his usual stoic expression. “Yes, I can take you to where we had split and we can search from there.” He told him. 

Shen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, good.” He glanced out of the window, looking at the stormy clouds. “We should go now then, unless we want to get rained on.” He said, getting up out of his chair and getting himself situated with his arm crutch.

“Wait, what was the second thing?” Shang Qinghua asked as he got up. 

Shen Yuan blinked. “Oh, don’t tell Binghe about everything.” He said. “Please, I want to be the one to tell him myself. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea if he hears it from someone else.” 

Shang Qinghua nodded. “Of course we won’t.” He told Shen Yuan, and Mobei-jun hummed in agreement. 

“Thank you.” Shen Yuan breathed out. “Now, let’s go.” 

~

Just when Shen Yuan thought his luck couldn’t get shittier, the rain started pouring on them before they were even halfway to where Mobei-jun had said he and Binghe had split up. Lo and behold, none of them had an umbrella on them either. 

The rain was freezing, causing Shen Yuan to feel like a human popsicle. He shuddered, internally cursing his body for being anemic on top of all of his other issues. He really was just the unluckiest guy on earth right now. All he wanted was to find his husband! Was that too much to ask of the world? Not to mention his knee was also beginning to act up. Every time he moved it while walking, it felt like a thousand needles were stabbing it. Oh, and he was starting to feel feverish. Great. Stupid weak ass immune system.

The trio was soaked to the bone as they trudged along. Shang Qinghua, who was walking side by side with Mobei-jun, glanced back at Shen Yuan. “Are you good bro? Do you need to take a break?” He asked Shen Yuan. 

“No, I’m fine.” He told him, growing slightly jealous of how the two seemed unaffected by the chill of the rain. It did make sense, both of them were almost always in the northern desert so they were most likely used to colder weather. 

“Are you sure? Either way, he’ll most likely be back at where he and my king are staying.” Shang Qinghua stopped and moved towards Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a sneeze. “Ugh.” He sighed. “Let’s just keep going.”

“Uhhh bro?”

“What now?”

“Your nose is bleeding. Like a lot.”

“Shit.” He wiped at his nose and sure enough, a huge amount of blood came off his sleeve. “It’s fine, this happens often.” He tried telling them but the worry didn’t go away from their faces. 

“Dude, your husband will freak out if he sees you like this.” Shang Qinghua said as he began helping Shen Yuan to a bench. “Let’s at least stop the nosebleed.” 

Shen Yuan scowled. “Fine.” He let himself be led with a frown on his face as he pinched his nose. 

Suddenly, there was the sound of a car screeching to a halt next to them. Shen Yuan flinched at the sudden noise before looking at the source. 

“A-Yuan!” Fuck . It was his brother. Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun shared a look of alarm mixed with confusion. Shen Yuan looked up to see his brother rushing over to him before suddenly holding onto his shoulders. “What happened to you!? Why haven’t you been answering our calls!?” Shen Jiu sounded frantic. “And who are they ?” He was pulled towards Shen Jiu as Shen Jiu cautiously looked at Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun. 

“Woah bro, we’re friends of his.” Shang Qinghua said, throwing his hands up. 

“What kind of friends are letting my brother walk around in pouring rain, shivering with a nosebleed?” Shen Jiu questioned.

When had he started shivering? When he looked down at his hand, it was shaking a lot. Well, shit. “A-Jiu I’m fine. It’s not their fault it suddenly started raining.” He snorted. “They were just helping me with something.”

An umbrella was suddenly over him and a jacket was draped over him. “A-Yuan, we were really worried about you.” His sister's voice sounded from behind him. He looked at Shen Mei and he softened, just a little. 

“I’m sorry Mei Mei, my phone was just on Do Not Disturb.” He patted her head to comfort her. 

“Come on, you need to get home and dry off before you end up in the hospital with pneumonia.” Shen Jiu told him, trying to pull him towards the car. 

Shen Yuan hissed with pain when he was pulled onto his bad leg. He barely managed to keep himself up as he regained his balance. “I can’t go home right now, just go to my apartment and wait for me.” He told them.

“What? No!” Shen Jiu looked stunned that Shen Yuan wanted to stay out here in this state. “I’m not leaving you out here when you’re in this state! Especially since I don’t know who these random guys are.”

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “Can you stop treating me like a child who needs protection? We’re the same age for fuck’s sake!” He was growing to be pissed off. “Also, I literally just said that they’re my friends, not some random guys.”

Shen Jiu’s expression was growing more and more annoyed. “Well if you didn’t act like this then we wouldn’t be having an issue!” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Shen Yuan’s eyes narrowed as he gripped the handle of his arm crutch tighter. 

“You’re being difficult A-Yuan!” Shen Jiu huffed. “You were just in the hospital in a coma because of food poisoning, do you really want to be back there!?”

“No one asked you to take care of me! Just because I’m weak and disabled doesn’t mean you should treat me like a toddler!” He hissed. 

Shen Jiu’s eyes widened in shock. “Shen Yuan!” He exclaimed. “You know damn well that’s not why! I’m just trying to keep you safe!” He was growing desperate. 

“I’m a grown fucking adult, I don’t need your protection A-Jiu!” Shen Yuan turned back to Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun. “Let’s just go.” He muttered.

“A-Yuan wait.” Shen Mei stopped him. “Please, can’t whatever it is wait?” She asked him desperately. He shook his head.

“I’m sorry Meimei, but it can’t.” He wanted to explain but he didn’t have the time. Looking at the expression on his sister's face, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for keeping everything going on from her. 

“Cucumber-bro, if you need you can go home, and when we find Binghe we’ll bring him to you.” Shang Qinghua said in a low voice to Shen Yuan. He was about to protest but a wave of tiredness washed over him. At the same time, he was stubborn.

“No, I want to find him myself.” He frowned. 

“Who the hell is Binghe?” Shen Yuan groaned internally at Shen Jiu’s voice. 

“Doesn’t matter, none of your business.” Shen Yuan told him. 

“None of my business? God, what are you, five!?”

“Oh my fucking god, you are insufferable!” 

“I’m insufferable? Have you met yourself in the past 2 months!?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry that I’m such an inconvenience!”

“That’s enough!” A shout came from Shen Mei. “Both of you! Shut it! You’re both insufferable right now! A-Yuan, I don’t know who you’re looking for but you should do what your friend recommended before I drag your ass in the car myself!” 

Shen Yuan was stunned to say the least. His mouth was slightly opened as he tried to come up with a response but he was stumped. He sighed, knowing that his sister was right. “Fine, but you two better bring him as fast as you can!” He told Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun sternly. Shang Qinghua quickly nodded in response before Shen Yuan turned towards the car, getting in the back with Shen Mei’s help. He sighed, leaning against the back of the seat as he tried to wipe the blood off of his face and neck. Shen Mei got into the car after him, closing the door. She silently helped him clean up with some towels from the glove department. 

After Shen Jiu got in the car, the drive to Shen Yuan’s apartment was silen.

As he looked at his sister as she helped him, he couldn’t help but think: not getting reattached is a lot harder than I thought.

Chapter Text

After changing into dry and clean clothes, Shen Yuan sat on his couch, his hair still dripping wet. Shen Jiu left shortly after ensuring Shen Yuan and Shen Mei got to the apartment safely. Apparently, he had to finish up his shift at work. He said he would be back before 11 pm. Shen Yuan would honestly prefer he’d wait until the next day to come back. Or never. 

He almost forgot that Shen Mei was still here when he felt a towel land on his head. Before he could protest, she was already using the towel to dry his hair. “You don’t have to-”

“Shut up.”

And so he did. He stayed quiet as Shen Mei dried his hair, contemplating what to say. “Meimei.” He spoke up after a moment, receiving a hum in response. “I’m sorry for being such an ass lately.” She stayed quiet. “I know I’ve been a shitty brother, I have no excuse.”

There was a short silence before the towel was removed from his head. Before he could hang his head in shame, Shen Mei came around the couch and sat next to him before dragging him into a hug. “Listen A-Yuan, yeah sure you’ve been a huge ass lately,” She began. “But, you’re still my brother. Plus, you’re clearly going through something.” Shen Yuan tried to intervene but she shushed him. “Before you try saying you’re not, I have eyes you know! I’m not that dumb!”

Shen Yuan sighed in defeat. “You’re not dumb at all, Meimei.” He hugged her back with a small smile on his face. 

She giggled before giving Shen Yuan a gentle squeeze. “Seriously though, you can talk to me you know.” She sighed. “I may be 4 years younger but I’m still your sister.”

He rested his head on hers. “Oh Meimei…” For a short second, he couldn’t figure out what to say. Then, a memory came to mind. “Do you remember when we were kids, we’d curl up in bed together with ice cream and watch cheesy movies?”

Shen Mei’s eyes lit up. “You’d always talk during them, complaining and criticizing any issue that happened. I swear, you could’ve been a movie critic if you wanted!” She said while laughing. 

“Maybe I should’ve pursued that as a career.” He joked. “Anyways, my point in bringing that up was to ask if you if you wanted to do that?”

“YES!” She was close to yelling in excitement, causing Shen Yuan to smile even more. 

~

Shen Yuan was ranting about how stupid the protagonist and love interest was due to a dumb miscommunication trope when he noticed Shen Mei was close to falling asleep. He slowly went quieter to try and not bother her but when he went quiet she looked up at him with a frown. 

“Don’t stop talking! You’re like a podcast, it’s helping me sleep.” She sighed. 

Shen Yuan laughed softly. “My bad.” He said, ruffling her hair a little bit. She muttered something as she curled up against his side. 

“A-Yuan?”

“Hm?”

She kept her eyes on the screen. “Are you sure nothing is going on?”

Shen Yuan stiffened with surprise. He opened his mouth to say something then closed it, starting to fall into deep thought to figure out a response. Should he just tell her? He didn’t want to keep her worrying. She was his little sister, she shouldn’t have to worry about him, it was supposed to be the other way around. He was supposed to be the one who would protect her and fret like a worried mother, but right now, it was the other way around. He sighed, wrapping his arms around her again. “Do you think you can keep a secret from A-Jiu?” He asked with a little smile.

She immediately perked up, looking at her brother with sparkling eyes. “Yes! I mean, yes. I can. My lips are sealed!” 

He laughed quietly. “Promise? I think A-Jiu would flip out if he found out about this.” 

She nodded like her life depended on it. 

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Since… Since the time I was in the hospital for food poisoning, there’s someone I haven’t been able to see. Someone very important to me.” He told her. “It’s been very difficult to be without that person.” He admitted. 

She tilted her head. “Who? A girlfriend?” She asked. 

He held back a laugh. “Close, but not a girlfriend.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Well, he’s a little more than that.”

She gasped, squirming out of Shen Yuan’s arms and sitting up to stare at him. “ Husband!?”  

He smiled weakly. “Ding ding ding!”

Her mouth hung agape. “You… You got married!? Since when!? How!? WHO!?”

“It’s been over a year now, but we’re technically not legally married.” He said. “Don’t worry, there was no wedding that you missed. It was a sudden thing, we didn’t even have rings.”

She seemed to relax at that. “Good, because I would’ve made him a widow if I found out that I wasn’t invited to your wedding.” She huffed while Shen Yuan laughed. 

“There’s no way I wouldn’t have my favorite little sister at my wedding!”

“I’m your only little sister!”

“So? You’re still my favorite!” He rolled his eyes, ruffling her hair. 

“Yeah yeah, whatever!” She pushed his hand away before getting comfortable again. 

“Just make sure you don’t tell A-Jiu that I’m married, cool?”

She nodded. “I won’t, don’t worry! Lips are sealed shut!”

~

Shen Mei woke up a couple of hours later. She hadn’t even noticed she was falling asleep until she had! She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she glanced at the TV which was now playing the title screen song over and over. She went to reach for the remote but noticed her brother’s breathing was a little funny. She sat up and turned over to see Shen Yuan’s face was very red and he seemed warmer than usual. She gently pressed her hand on his forehead only to quickly jerk it back when it was burning hot. “Oh, A-Yuan…” She mumbled, quickly getting out of bed. 

She exited the room, coming back with a thermometer and putting it on his forehead. 103 degrees. Shit. She adjusted the position that he was lying in so he was more comfortable and pulled the covers off of his upper body. She went to the bathroom, grabbed a washcloth, and got it wet so she could put it on her brother's head. She picked up her phone, quickly dialing Shen Jiu’s number and putting the phone up to her ear. 

“Hello?”

“A-Jiu, A-Yuan got a fever.” She sighed. “It’s at 103 right now. We might need to take him to the hospital, I don’t know how long he’s been like this since we fell asleep.”

“Fuck. I knew he was going to get sick! What was he thinking walking around in the rain like that? You’d think he’d know better at this point!” 

“It’s A-Yuan, since when has he ever been careful?” 

“Yeah yeah, I know.” Shen Jiu sighed. “Keep monitoring him, I still have an hour left in the shift. If his temperature gets higher then when I get there we’ll take him to the hospital.”

She nodded as if he could see her. “Okay, got it. I’ll see you then.” She hung up, returning to Shen Yuan’s side. She grabbed the remote, turning off the TV before seeing if she could wake her brother up. She shook him gently, waited, then shook him again. She sighed when he seemed to slightly wake up but fell back asleep almost immediately. “This is what you get for going out in the rain like that.” She mumbled, poking at her brother and watching his face scrunch up in his sleep. 

She got up again, grabbed her brother's phone, and unlocked it so she could order something to eat. It was 8 so she was pretty hungry. She turned off Do Not Disturb mode so she could have the notifications from the food tracking and watched as all the notifications from her and Shen Jiu’s missed calls appeared on the screen. She gently shook her head, silently admonishing her brother for being so careless. She opened the app to order the food but as she did, his phone was suddenly getting a call from someone with the ID of  ‘Airplane-bro’. She didn’t think she could roll her eyes so hard at the dumb nickname. 

She tapped on the answer button, figuring she’d tell the person that her brother was sick and couldn’t speak right now. 

“Hello?”

“ CUCUMBER-BRO- wait you don’t sound like him. Who is this?” The voice shouting at first had Shen Mei holding the phone far from her ear.

“Are you one of Shen Yuan’s friends? He can’t answer right now, he’s sick.”

A different deeper voice sounded on the phone. “He’s sick!? Is he okay?”

“Ah, yeah. It’s just one of his usual fevers. If it doesn’t go down in the next hour we’re taking him to the hospital.”

The higher-pitched voice returned. “Is it cool if we come over there? It’s really urgent! You’re his sister, right? We saw each other earlier when you came and got him. Listen, the person that he was looking for is here right now and he’s going to want to see him!”

Her eyes widened. “You found him?” Her mind went racing. “Okay, okay. You guys can come over, I just can’t promise that he’ll be awake. He’s not waking up no matter how much I shake him.” 

“Okay, we’ll be there soon.”

The call ended and Shen Mei felt a rising nervousness in herself. The person her brother was looking for was his husband, right? This was going to be her first time meeting him and her brother wouldn’t even be awake! She really hoped this guy was good.

~

To say the least, Luo Binghe was freaking out. 

First, it started pouring on him so now he was soaking wet. Second, when he got back to where they were staying he found out that Mobei had found Shang Qinghua somehow. But most importantly, Shang Qinghua knew where Shen Qingqiu was. When he questioned where, Shang Qinghua had pulled out this weird item before tapping on it and holding it near his face. Then someone’s voice came out of it!? He had talked right back into it as if it was normal! After he had finished, Binghe had no time to question what it was. They were immediately out the door and went to wherever his Shizun was. Not that he was complaining, he wanted to get there as fast as he could after hearing that his husband was sick. His husband never got sick! He was a cultivator so it was extremely rare that he would be so sick that he couldn’t wake up. Whatever was happening to him, Binghe needed to fix it immediately.

They had taken what Shang Qinghua explained was a car using some kind of service called Uber. Binghe didn’t understand but it got them there fast. It wasn’t as efficient as flying on a sword, though. 

They got out of the car and he watched Shang Qinghua’s mouth drop. “What the fuck? This guy is rich rich!” He grumbled under his breath. In Binghe’s opinion, it wasn’t much compared to his castle.

The trio entered the building, having to go through some weird security thing. Shang Qinghua kept muttering something about rich people the entire way through before they finally arrived at what Shang Qinghua said was an ‘Elevator’. It rose them to a higher floor and Shang Qinghua led the way to where he said Shen Qingqiu was staying.

“Remember, his name here is Shen Yuan. Now, I don’t know if his brother is there but if he is, I’m warning you he looks JUST like Shen Qingqiu but it’s not him.” He told Binghe directly as they approached. Binghe nodded along, wondering what his husband's family was like. He was a little hurt that his Shizun had never mentioned his family but it did make sense if he was from this world. This was something that his Shizun most likely wanted to keep a secret especially since both Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun refused to tell him a thing. It was fine, he’d just ask his husband directly.

They stopped at a door and Shang Qinghua glared at a button that was next to it. “A doorbell for an apartment? Ridiculous!” He had muttered under his breath before pressing the button. Binghe heard a short melody inside of the home before a young girl's voice was heard. She had called that she was coming and shortly after footsteps were pattering to the door. When it was opened, it revealed a girl that Binghe guessed was about 16 or 17.

“Hi.” She said awkwardly. “You guys are A-Yuan’s friends, right?”

Shang Qinghua nodded but before he could say anything he yelped as he was promptly shoved aside by Binghe, who took his place. “My name is Luo Binghe, I’m uhh..” His mind suddenly blanked. On the way here, he was told that his Shizun’s family most likely had no idea that he was married but saying that his husband was simply a friend felt horribly wrong.

Her eyes seemed to light up. “Oh! I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but are you his husband?” 

“He told you about me?” Binghe felt relief wash over him and his heart swelled with love. 

She smiled warmly at Binghe. “Yes, just a few hours ago.” She told him then realized something. “Oh, I’m sorry! You guys can come in. I didn’t mean to make you wait out here.” She stepped aside so they could enter.

After letting Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun get comfortable on one of the couches and putting something on for them to watch, she led Binghe to the room that Shen Qingqiu- or Shen Yuan, was in. “I don’t think he’s awake but you’re free to stay until he does.” She told him. “If he does wake up, can you make sure he takes his medicine? It’s on the nightstand.”

Binghe nodded as they entered the room. The breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding was let out when he saw Shen Yuan lying in the bed. Before he knew it, he was at his husband's side. He gently put his hand against his husband’s cheek to find it was very warm. He bit the inside of his lip as his mind raced with worry. He brushed a strand of hair out of Shen Yuan’s face and tucked it behind his ear before letting his hand rest on his Shizun’s face. 

His husband looked so frail and fragile in this state. The bags under his eyes alone made Binghe’s heart leap with worry. He looked like he hadn’t eaten a lot lately and his skin was red all over due to the fever heating his body. Binghe could feel tears pricking his eyes as he gazed at the poor state Shen Yuan was in. His hand trailed down to one of his husbands and he gently held it before turning to his Shizun’s sister. “Will he be okay?” He asked in a nervous voice. 

She nodded with a sympathetic expression. “He’ll be okay. He’s had worse fevers than this.” She laughed softly. “If the fever doesn’t break or go down within the hour, we’ll take him to the hospital.”
Binghe nodded a bit. “Okay.” He looked back at his husband for a brief moment before looking back at his sister. “Were.. were the things he said about me good?” He asked shyly.

She looked quite surprised for a moment before a smile spread on her face. “Oh, don’t worry. The way he was talking about you sounded like he was head over heels for you.” She laughed a bit when Binghe grew flustered. “He told me that it was difficult being separated from you. I could tell he missed you very much.” 

“That’s a relief.” He managed to get out as his gaze fixed on Shen Yuan again. A smile appeared on his face at the fact that his husband spoke so well about him. 

“I’ll leave you guys alone, I’ll just be in the other room.” She told him as she began to walk out of the room. 

“Ah, thank you.” He quickly told her. She nodded her head a bit as she closed the bedroom door behind her, leaving the two alone. Binghe turned back to Shen Yuan, leaning down after a moment to land a gentle kiss on his lips. He sat back up, putting his hand up to his mouth, and used his tooth to create a gash on his hand. After getting a moderate amount of blood in his mouth, he let the wound heal and leaned back over his husband, connecting their lips again. He slightly opened his mouth to allow the blood into Shen Yuan’s, gently massaging his throat at the same time so it would enter his body. Please let this work.

He sat up, wiping the blood from his and his husband's mouth. He closed his eyes, relieved when he found that he could still use the blood parasites. As he had them begin to break down the fever, he had the leftover ones explore the rest of his husband’s body to check for injuries. His eyes snapped open in shock when they reached his knee. He pulled the blanket aside and looked at Shen Yuan’s knee, breath hitching in his throat when he saw the horrid scars that were all over it.  He felt anger rise in him, wondering who the hell did this to his Shizun.

“Binghe?” Binghe’s gaze snapped back to his husband, who was now awake. 

His vision immediately blurred with tears. “Shizun!?” He quickly leaned back over his husband. “It’s me, it’s Binghe, your husband!” He gently placed a hand on Shen Yuan’s warm face. 

“Binghe..”

“Shizun?”

“Binghe Binghe Binghe… are you real?” Shen Yuan’s voice cracked. 

“Shizun shizun shizun, I’m real.” He told him. He watched as his husband's face scrunched up with fat tears filling his eyes. “S-Shizun!?” He exclaimed in alarm. Before he could do anything, his husband sat up, pushed him back, and then threw himself against Binghe, wrapping his arms tightly around him.

“What took you so long!?” Shen Yuan hiccuped through sobs. Binghe hugged him tightly and firmly, never wanting to let him go ever again. “It’s been months!” His words were slightly slurred, most likely from his fever making him delirious. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He felt his shirt growing soaked from his Shizun’s tears. Soon enough, his very own tears were falling out of his eyes. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry! I have no excuse, I should’ve found you faster.” Binghe held on as violent sobs shook Shen Yuan’s body. Shen Yuan pulled away briefly and Binghe took the chance to shower his husband's face with long overdue kisses. He kissed every tear he could away before Shen Yuan caught his lips with his own. Binghe melted into the kiss, his hand reaching up behind his husband's head to pull them even closer and deepen this kiss. 

Shen Yuan faintly whimpered when the kiss was broken, causing Binghe to immediately capture his lips in another kiss. His hands trailed down to his husband's waist, gently kneading at it before he was suddenly shoved down against the bed. Shen Yuan straddled Binghe’s hips, his hair falling beautifully over his face. In this body, his Shizun’s hair only went down to his shoulders but it didn’t lessen his beauty at all. Compared to his usual neat and straight long hair, his hair was wavy and more unkempt. With his hands on each side of Binghe’s head, he leaned over and then down to kiss Binghe again. Binghe held onto his husband's thighs as they repeatedly broke the kiss before sinking right back into another kiss. 

Binghe felt like he was going to ascend any moment with this amount of affection. He was a little disappointed when Shen Yuan pulled away. He propped himself up while Shen Yuan remained sitting on top of Binghe. “Shizun?” He reached up and gently brushed a few more tears away. 

“Binghe…” He whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“What? For what?” 

“I deceived you.” Shen Yuan choked on another sob. “I lied to you about who I am, and where I’m from, for so long.” Tears re-soaked his face, dripping down on Binghe. 

Binghe fell quiet. He gazed up at his husband, wondering what was going through his head. “Shizun, I have a few questions.” He whispered. Shen Yuan nodded. “Did that system thing bring you to my world?”

Shen Yuan looked shocked for a moment but nodded after a few moments. “Has.. Has the system been talking to you?” He asked.

Binghe shook his head. “No, not really.”

He sighed in relief. “Binghe, listen. The system is dangerous you can’t fall for its tricks.” He warned Binghe. “It can make you think you know something but then it’ll turn around and have a completely different meaning. It can force you into doing things you don’t want to and if you don’t do what it wants it can punish you.”

Binghe looked up at him with wide eyes. “Shizun, has this thing been forcing you to do things!?” He could feel anger rising in him. 

His husband's lips pressed together tightly, his eyes showing that he was recalling painful memories. “You have no idea the amount of things it’s made me do.” He whispered. 

Binghe’s grip on his husband's thighs slightly tightened, but not enough to be painful. “Like what?” 

Shen Yuan took a shaky deep breath. “The abyss.” 

Binghe stiffened as he recalled his Shizun’s sword stabbing his chest and pushing him over the edge into the endless abyss. It had been one of the most confusing times of his life and now? It made sense. He had been forced to do it. “Shizun, why didn’t you tell me?” His voice broke.

Shen Yuan’s face twisted up with pain and regret. “It wouldn’t have let me.”

Binghe’s mind was running like crazy. He didn’t know how to process this new information. How much had his husband been forced to do against his will? “Wait, you said something about punishments?” His husband froze, his eyes widened. “Shizun?”

Shen Yuan’s breathing grew a little uneven, causing Binghe to grow concerned. His husband's fever should have been gone by now, he even double-checked. “I… It…” He hesitated. “Once. Once it punished me. Using your image.” What he said was barely audible as he had his eyes shut tight. 

Binghe was horrified. “What do you mean!?” How the hell did it use him to punish him?

Shen Yuan shook his head. “I failed to do something and…” He fell silent. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can describe it right now.” He covered his face, his body shaking. 

Binghe gently rubbed circles on Shen Yuan’s thighs before reaching up and running a hand through his husband's hair. “It’s okay Shizun, don’t force yourself.” As soon as he figured out a way to fucking kill this system, it was going to die for hurting his husband. “Shizun Shizun.” He whispered.

Shen Yuan uncovered his face, finally looking at Binghe again. “What is it?”

“Did it bring you to my world when you had fallen ill that one time? Right before you had given me that ointment?” He asked. 

After a moment, he nodded. “Yes.” He said. “In this world, I died and it put me into Shen Qingqiu’s body.” 

Binghe thought of something. “You died? Wait, how, how did you know so many things right away?”

“Binghe, listen.” Shen Yuan took a deep breath. “The way I knew everything and was able to act nearly perfectly, was because I knew the world before I was put there.”

“How?”

“Because your world is the same as the one I read about in a novel called Proud Immortal Demon Way written by Airplane, or, well, the Shang Qinghua you know . A novel where you were the main character but things went very different.” He said carefully. “My presence in the world changed the story, a lot.” He laughed softly.

Binghe’s breath hitched in his throat. His mind raced, processing the fact that he was just told that he came from a story that was written about him. A story that was written by Shang Qinghua of all people. A story that came to life. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to figure out what to say. There were so many questions, so many things he wanted to say. He couldn’t choose just one.

“Binghe? Are you okay?” His husband's voice snapped him back to reality. 

“Who… Who was your favorite character?” The stupidest question of them all had come out of his mouth. 

Shen Yuan stared at him, dumbfounded. They stared at each other before a smile finally cracked on his husband's face. “Of all questions… that was the one you wanted to ask?” Shen Yuan was desperately holding back his laughs.

Binghe’s face heated up. “Hey, I think it’s a very fair question!” 

He watched as his husband burst out into laughter, curling forward with his head on Binghe’s chest. “I cannot… I cannot believe you asked that!” He said in between laughs.

“You still haven’t answered it!” Binghe huffed and frowned. 

“Binghe Binghe.” Shen Yuan said, sitting back up with a smile that aroused butterflies in Binghe’s stomach. “My dear husband, is that even a question?” He asked. “Of course it was you!”

Binghe paused before a smile also grew on his face. “Good.” He said before dragging his husband down into a kiss. They kept having to break the kiss as they laughed and Binghe resorted to peppering Shen Yuan’s face with kisses. He sat up, keeping Shen Yuan on his lap as he kneaded his husband's waist. “Shizun, I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Shen Yuan responded warmly. “More than you could ever know.” He captured Binghe’s lips into another kiss, holding his face gently. 

Binghe wished this moment could last forever.

He was so enamored with this moment, that he missed the sound of rushed steps coming down the hallway towards their room with Shen Yuan’s sister's voice trying to urge the person to not go into the room. 

The door suddenly burst open, revealing someone who looked very similar to his husband.

Chapter Text

When Shen Jiu got a call from his sister that Shen Yuan was sick, he was expecting that it would just be a simple in and out to the hospital when he arrived. He’s done it plenty of times, this should be the normal routine he’s used to. Instead, he was greeted by the two strangers who had been out with Shen Yuan, letting him get soaked by the freezing rain, right on the couch with his little sister sitting beside them. 

See, if these were normal friends of Shen Yuan’s that he had met and got to know, then maybe he wouldn’t have freaked out as much as he did! Can you blame him? What was he supposed to do when these two had put his brother in danger and ended up getting him so sick to the point that they would have to take Shen Yuan to the hospital?! Plus, he didn’t know them! His sister is only 16, how would he not freak out knowing that these two grown men were alone with her!? 

The shorter one didn’t seem like much of a threat, more of a coward if anything, but the taller one? How was that fucker so tall!? Not to mention those muscles, even if he had a sword that guy could probably shatter it just by grabbing it! The alarm bells in his head were going off like crazy! If Shen Yuan weren’t sick and not waking up from his fever, Shen Jiu would have screamed his lungs off at him for leaving their little sister with these two. 

That wasn’t even the worst part, Shen Mei had eventually told him something else. That there was in fact, another man in the apartment. Shen Jiu thought he would spit blood on the spot at that. When he heard that she left him alone with said man, he thought he was going to have a fucking stroke! Why were both of his siblings so irresponsible!? 

Not to mention, when he started to go to Shen Yuan’s room to see who the hell was in the room, Shen Mei dared to try and hold him back! If it were possible, he’d have steam coming out of his ears by now! She kept repeating that he shouldn’t be going in there, which was ridiculous,  why the fuck shouldn’t he? Even the smaller of the two guys tried to urge him to not go in there! What the fuck was going on!?!?! 

He shortly found out what the fuck was going on.

He didn’t think he would regret opening that door, he really didn’t! But when he opened it to reveal the sight of his brother kissing some… some beast! On the beast’s lap!? He felt like he was going to have heart failure on the spot!!! He blinked. Then again. His mouth hung open in shock as Shen Yuan and the beast's heads snapped to look at Shen Jiu. “What the fuck.” Slipped out of his mouth. 

Before he knew it, he had a pillow connecting heavily with his face. “GET OUT!” Shen Yuan yelled. 

Shen Jiu stumbled back and was stunned before he felt Shen Mei tugging on him. “I’m so sorry, I tried to stop him!” Her voice came after an embarrassed squeak. 

One thing Shen Jiu couldn’t figure out is why this stranger looked so fucking familiar!? He’d seen this guy's face before, he just couldn’t figure out where. One thing he knew for certain, though, is that he absolutely did not fucking like how this guy was holding onto his twin. “Who- Who the fuck are you!? A-Yuan, who is this!?” He pushed forward despite his sister desperately trying to drag him back. He wasn’t about to leave this random guy he had never met with his hands in all the wrong places on his brother!

The curly-haired man pulled Shen Yuan closer, meeting Shen Jiu’s glare with one of his own. Shen Jiu was practically fuming as Shen Yuan grumbled about something before shifting so he was sitting on the bed instead of on the man’s lap. Despite doing that, the man seemed to refuse to let go as he had his glaring match with Shen Jiu. “Binghe, behave!” Shen Yuan pinched Binghe’s arm, getting a whine in return.

Shen Jiu stiffened when he heard the name. The name was undeniably familiar as well. Fuck! Why was everything about this guy so familiar?! He heard Shen Yuan’s short friend say the name earlier but he didn’t think much of it, but now it was fucking with his head! 

Wait.

Wait.

“Luo Binghe… that little beast!?” He hadn’t even realized he had spoken aloud until he noticed Shen Yuan looking at him with a furious expression. 

“What the fuck did you just call him?” Shen Yuan hissed while beginning to get up. 

Shen Jiu’s mind was blanking. You know, usually, he was pretty good at keeping calm even in the most stressful of scenarios. In his defense, usually, those scenarios did not include his brother. He’s always been overprotective of his siblings, they were his everything you know? So when it came to his siblings, losing his shit wasn’t rare. Hence why he is currently losing his shit. 

When Shen Yuan had gotten up, he had done what he’s been doing lately. Forgetting that he can’t stand on the leg where his knee had been rendered unusable. He realized it a little too late and began to fall. Before Shen Jiu could move even a singular muscle, Binghe had speedily caught Shen Yuan, calling out “Shizun!” In the process. Well, now Shen Jiu was even more confused and freaked out! He shuddered at the all-too-familiar title.

“ What!? Who the hell are you calling Shizun!?” Shen Jiu felt like he was about to lose his mind. “A-Yuan what the fuck ! You don’t even do martial arts why the hell is he calling you Shizun!?” 

Shen Yuan looked a bit dumbfounded as he seemed to be searching for an answer to Shen Jiu’s question. “Uh…”

There was a squeak that sounded behind Shen Jiu. He looked back and saw the shorter one of Shen Yuan’s two friends standing near the doorway with the taller one behind him. Another frustratingly familiar person! “What are you looking at you rat?” He hissed at him. 

Was that too harsh? Probably. The man stared at him with his mouth agape and eyes wide. “ Shen Qingqiu!? ”

What.

How.

How the fuck did this guy know his name.

“What the fuck did you just call me?” Shen Jiu hissed, glaring harshly at the rat. 

“Well uh, you know uh–” Whatever he was trying to say was suddenly cut off by a yelp as Shen Jiu grabbed the collar of his shirt.

“How the hell do you know that name!? Who the fuck are you!?”

He squirmed in Shen Jiu’s grasp. “Wait wait wait!! It’s me! Shang Qinghua!” 

WHAT THE FUCK.

~

His brother being the original Shen Qingqiu was not something that was on Shen Yuan’s bingo card for this year. Well, to be fair, none of what was happening was on his bingo card.

Utter chaos ensued after Shang Qinghua had tested out calling Shen Jiu ‘Shen Qingqiu’. Mobei-jun had to pry Shang Qinghua out of Shen Jiu’s grasp while Shen Mei pulled Shen Jiu away and separated the two. Shen Yuan had to hold Binghe back from going over there himself before stopping him from trying to grab Shen Yuan and straight up leaving. Then he really had to hold back Binghe when Shen Jiu called him a demon. That confirmed everything Shen Yuan needed to know. 

Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu sat side by side on the bed after Shen Yuan yelled for everyone to get out of his room. It took an extra effort to get Binghe out of the room, but after some coaxing from Shen Yuan, he eventually left the room. There was a very awkward silence between the two as they tried to figure out what words to say. 

Eventually, Shen Yuan broke the silence. “Are you really Shen Qingqiu?” He asked with his head in his hands. 

Shen Jiu tapped his fingers against his knees while biting at his lips. “Yes.” He eventually said. “A-Yuan, how do you know those people?” He quickly asked.

He sighed. “I guess there’s no point in keeping it a secret anymore.” Shen Yuan sat up, uncovering his face. “A-Jiu, you know how I got food poisoning?”

Shen Jiu nodded. “Yeah? How could I not?” He scoffed. 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “Oh shut up.” He told him. “My point is,” He paused, trying to finger out a way to explain this without freaking his brother out but it was no use. He’d just have to be blunt. “I died when I got it.”

Shen Jiu stiffened. “What?” He looked at Shen Yuan with a disbelieving expression. “But- The doctors never said anything about that?” 

“Yeah, I’m a little confused about that as well.” Shen Yuan stretched his leg out before retracting it. He repeated the motion a few times since his knee was beginning to ache. “The doctors never mentioned anything but I know I did.”

“How do you know then?”

“Because A-Jiu, for the past 12 years I’ve been in a different world.” He turned his head to look at Shen Jiu. “In your original world.”

A long silence passed while a mixture of emotions was shown on Shen Jiu’s face. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he eventually spoke. “How?”

Shen Yuan had an irritated expression. “Something called ‘The System’ took me there.” He said. “It’s this stupid interface that somehow has the power to move people from world to world and can control many things. It can make you do stuff that you don’t want to and can punish you if you don’t do said stuff.” 

Shen Jiu’s expression turned stressed. “Punish you? Did it do something to you?”

Shen Yuan fell silent for a moment before shaking his head. “That’s not relevant right now. What’s relevant is how the hell you got here and when.”
“Wait-”

“Nope, how and when.” He cut Shen Jiu off, not wanting to speak about the horrible memory. 

Shen Jiu sighed in defeat. He knew better than to argue with Shen Yuan. “Fine.” He crossed his legs and leaned back with the support of his arms. “I don’t know exactly how I got here. I remember beginning to Qi deviate before my mind went blank but when I woke up, I was in the body of a child.” He said. “It was really weird. I had woken up in a body identical to how I looked when I was a child but I didn’t recognize any of my surroundings.”

Shen Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Was it when you were in the hospital after fracturing your skull when we were 7?”

Shen Jiu nodded. “Yeah. I could tell I wasn’t in the right world when I saw all of that advanced tech.” He laughed softly.

“No wonder you seemed so freaked out when you woke up. They had brushed it off as you just being a kid and being scared of the hospital but in reality, it was because you weren’t you.”  Shen Yuan rubbed his temples before realizing something. “Wait– but when you woke up you still recognized me.” He looked at Shen Jiu with a confused expression.

“Ah,” Shen Jiu smiled sadly. “How could I not recognize you?” He paused for a moment as Shen Yuan grew more and more confused. “You also existed in my world but, you died early on due to your weak immune system.”

It took everything in Shen Yuan to not get up and go beat the living shit out of Shang Qinghua when he heard that. Stupid fucking Author and his stupid fucking abandoned plots!!!!!! 

A lot of things that Shen Jiu did during Shen Yuan’s life made sense now, though. If this was true, suddenly the way Shen Jiu acted whenever Shen Yuan was sick made so much more sense. After all, he had lost him once. He didn’t want to lose him again. A gnawing guilt spread throughout him as he remembered the times he had snapped at Shen Jiu for his protective behavior. If he had been in Shen Jiu’s position, he most likely would have been the exact same way.

A soft, “Oh.” Escaped his lips after Shen Jiu spoke. As much as he wanted to say something, the words simply couldn’t form. 

Shen Jiu seemed to know what he was thinking and pulled Shen Yuan into a side hug. “Don’t be upset at yourself. If I were you, I’d also think I was being unbearable.”

Shen Yuan huffed. “Yeah, but I’ve been an asshole.” He said with a frown. 

“Mhm, sure, yeah. So? I’ve been an asshole to you as well.”

“Yeah but–”

“No buts. I don’t care.”

“A-Jiu–”

“A-Yuan.” Shen Jiu said firmly. “You’re my brother. No level of assholery is going to change that.” He softly laughed as he spoke. 

Shen Yuan seemed to relax a small amount when Shen Jiu said that. Slowly, he returned the hug he was being given and leaned into Shen Jiu. “I really missed you guys.” He whispered.

Shen Jiu smiled, patting Shen Yuan’s head for a moment before going rigid. “Wait, A-Yuan.” When Shen Yuan hummed he continued. “Meimei said you had a fever, how has it gone so quickly?” 

Shen Yuan froze. “Uh…” Well, what the fuck was he supposed to tell him!? He couldn’t just tell his brother that he had Binghe’s blood parasites in him, he’d totally flip! Wait… “Hold on, before I answer that, how did you know Binghe was a demon?” 

“Hey wait a minute, don’t change the subject!” Shen Jiu complained.

“I’ll answer if you answer!”

“A-Yuan I swear–”

“Just tell me!” Shen Yuan huffed.

Shen Jiu groaned. “Okay fine! When I was brought here, I’d get dreams.” He told Shen Yuan. “I could tell that they weren’t just normal dreams, ones that were just made up, but instead more of a future that could have happened. I don’t know how to explain how I knew, I just did.” 

Shen Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Dreams? What did they show you?”
“I think… I think whatever it was showing me was supposed to be my future if I never had that qi deviation and came here.” Shen Jiu sighed, seeming irritated as he recalled the dreams.

“Wait wait wait. So in these dreams, you saw Binghe?” Shen Yuan asked, sitting up as he got out of the hug they were in. 

Shen Jiu nodded. “Yes, one of them showed a moment where he was revealed to be a heavenly demon before I pushed him into a pit. The Endless Abyss.”

Shen Yuan’s breath hitched in his throat. The moment that Binghe got pushed into the abyss would forever be one of his worst memories, one of the things he would never forgive himself for. Even though he knew he was forced, there had to have been some way to save up enough points to be able to avoid that part of Binghe’s fate.  If he had just worked harder. He brushed the thoughts away, knowing what was done was done. There was no going back in time and changing it. Besides, who knows how much would have changed if Binghe never went into the abyss? Would they have even gotten married if he hadn’t been pushed into the abyss? Shen Yuan didn’t want to think of a reality where he wasn’t with Binghe. 

Shen Yuan took a deep breath. “Did… Did it show you anything else?”

Shen Jiu looked at him a bit funny. Was there something on his face? “Yeah. I think what was supposed to be my death.”

He looked at his brother with a sympathetic expression. If Shen Jiu had been lucky enough, maybe he hadn’t felt the pain of actually becoming a human stick. Shen Yuan had already felt half of becoming one, he couldn’t even begin to imagine fully becoming one.

“That’s all that I can remember clearly, though.” Shen Jiu said after a moment. “The rest are just hazy. Mostly insignificant things.”

Shen Yuan nodded. “Well, all I can say is that you were right. Those things would have happened.” 

Shen Jiu looked at him, barely showing a trace of surprise. He guessed that the surprise was only due to the fact that Shen Yuan knew, not that Shen Jiu was right. “How do you know?”

Shen Yuan silently debated in his head whether or not a third person should find out that they’re a character from a trashy novel. “Doesn’t matter.” He decided to save his brother from the crisis. “What I can tell you, though, is that I changed that fate by a longshot.” He laughed quietly.

“What do you mean?” Shen Jiu raised an eyebrow, a curious look in his eyes.

“I may or may not have been put in your body.”

“What.”

“Instead of being killed by Binghe, I married him instead.”

“WHAT.”

Okay so maybe ripping the bandaid off like that wasn’t the best decision. He had to sit through a 5-minute lecture on something about Shen Yuan shouldn’t be going off getting married to psychopathic men. Especially a psychopathic man who was also a heavenly demon. Would it be a bad time to tell him about the blood parasites?

It was a bad time. This time, he had to physically hold his brother back from storming out of the room and trying to pick a fight with Binghe. It seemed like his brother and husband were destined to hate each other. It’s going to be very difficult to get them to even tolerate each other…

“What were you thinking letting him give you blood parasites again!?”

“Okay, in my defense, I wasn’t even awake. He just wanted to get rid of the fever A-Jiu!”

“You weren’t awake!?” Shen Jiu had an appalled expression on his face. “Did he force you into this!? Are you sure you’re willingly married to that beast!? A-Yuan blink twice if you need me to go out there and–”

“A-Jiu!” Shen Yuan scolded. “I can assure you I was very willingly married to him. Watch your mouth when you’re talking about him! You may not like him, but he is still my husband whom I love very much so I won’t sit around and listen to you calling him a beast!” 

Shen Jiu’s mouth opened and closed a few times, making him look like a fish as he searched for a response. “Fine!” He huffed eventually. “But if he ever does anything to you, then I’ll gut him!”

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. As if you could ever get close enough to do that . “Sure sure, whatever you say A-Jiu.” He patted his brother on the shoulder. 

His twin’s face scrunched up. “I’m serious!” 

“A-Jiu, you don’t even have your cultivation in this world. How do you expect to beat a heavenly demon.”

“...not the point!” 

Shen Yuan shook his head. Most of the time A-Jiu acted as the older more mature brother. Then he had his moments like these whenever he got protective over Shen Yuan. “A-Jiu, you really don’t have to worry. He wouldn’t hurt me. I think he’d burst into tears just at the thought of hurting me.”

Shen Jiu huffed, seeming to accept that as a fact. Or as a ‘ that better be the truth or I’ll beat the shit out of the both of you!’. 

There was suddenly a knock at the door. “A-Yuan? A-Jiu? Are you two almost done? I think Binghe is about to cry if A-Yuan doesn’t come out soon…” Shen Mei’s voice came through the door.

Shen Yuan laughed with an affectionate sigh. “We’ll be out in a moment.” He told her as he got up, grabbing ahold of one of his arm crutches before turning to Shen Jiu. “Let’s go before my husband bursts in here himself and steals me away.” Shen Yuan smiled.

A-Jiu nodded. “Just give me a moment, I’ll be out shortly.”

Shen Yuan paused. “Are you okay?” He asked, wondering if Shen Jiu had gotten upset about something. Shen Yuan was still processing their entire conversation but maybe Shen Jiu had processed faster? Realized something bad?

Shen Jiu waved his hand. “I’m fine, fine. I’m just holding off seeing that beast's face for longer.” He said with a teasing smile.

Nope, Shen Yuan was wrong. It’s just Shen Jiu being the little shit he is. “Didn’t I tell you to not call him that?” He rolled his eyes. “Take your time.” He said before heading out of the bedroom.

He would shortly be swept off of the ground and was greeted by Binghe fully bursting into tears. Shen Yuan wouldn’t admit it, but that half hour without Binghe was even more excruciating than the past two months. Knowing his husband was in the room next to him but couldn’t go to him? Utterly ridiculous! But he would admit that was a needed conversation between him and his brother. 

As he curled up on the couch while being held by Binghe, he pushed the thought of leaving this world far into the back of his mind. 

~

In Shen Yuan's room, Shen Jiu couldn't help but think of how the hell he would stop his twin from leaving again. He couldn't lose him again. He had to get him to stay, he had to stall him leaving for as long as he could. Preferably forever.

He'd find a way. Somehow. 

Chapter Text

A few days passed and Binghe realized how much these few months had affected his husband.

Getting him out of bed was difficult; most of the time, he seemed exhausted. Binghe ended up having to carry him in his arms as he made breakfast simply because Shen Yuan wouldn’t let go. As much as he loved this attention, it was worrying. 

He’d never seen his husband in this state before. He had only heard of how Shen Yuan had acted the years he’d been in the abyss and now he couldn’t help but wonder if this is how he was. Although, as the days progressed he seemed to be getting better. There were some days where he was just as bad as the first but there was definite progress. 

A week later, today was one of those days when Shen Yuan just didn’t want to let go or wake up. He had a good hold of Binghe’s head, holding it firmly to his chest. It took Binghe a good 10 minutes to finally get into a good position where he could carry his Shizun without disturbing him. He carefully got up, holding Shen Yuan firmly to make sure he didn’t jostle him much. His head rested on Binghe’s shoulder and his arms lazily draped around Binghe’s neck. 

Binghe grabbed one of the things his Shizun used to help himself walk. He didn’t understand what had happened to cause such an injury but Shen Yuan refused to elaborate on it. He would keep repeating that a doctor simply messed up during a surgery that was supposed to fix his knee. Binghe didn’t believe that was the whole story but he wouldn’t pry if that wasn’t what he wanted. For now, he’d be patient and let Shen Yuan open up on his own.

After placing the crutch by a chair, he started pulling out the things he needed to make something to eat. Shen Yuan didn’t have many things in his home, the only ingredients that were in what he learned was called a fridge were from Shen Jiu. Or, Shen Qingqiu. No, that feels wrong. He’d rather not refer to him at all, actually. 

Anyways, with his Shizun in one arm and ingredients in the other, he put together something that Shen Yuan would enjoy waking up to. 

A little time later, he had yet to learn how they told time here, he finally finished everything. He set up a plate for Shen Yuan and put it on the table before gently shaking his husband awake. “Shizuuun, breakfast is ready.” As Shen Yuan began waking up, Binghe peppered his face with kisses.

It took Shen Yuan a few moments to realize that Binghe was carrying him. A slight frown came onto his face. “Binghe… Didn’t I tell you not to carry me while you cook?”

Binghe pouted. “But Shizun…”

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, patting the top of Binghe’s head. “Oh don’t give me that look. Aren’t I in the way? It would be more convenient to leave me in bed.”

“Shizun is never inconvenient.” Binghe insisted. “I would carry you for the rest of our lives if I needed to.”

That managed to get a smile out of his husband. “Oh, Binghe.” Shen Yuan sighed affectionately, placing a kiss on Binghe’s lips. “I love you.”

Binghe immediately felt tears pricking at his eyes. “Shizun…” He said in a wobbly voice. “I love you too!” He buried his face in Shen Yuan’s chest, causing Shen Yuan to laugh softly.

If he could, Binghe was sure he could stay in this position forever. Carrying his husband while having his head against his chest and Shen Yuan’s hands lovingly petting his head. Exchanging words of affection and kisses, honestly felt like a dream. He eventually did set his husband down, insisting that he eat. He took a seat next to him, happily watching as Shen Yuan ate. “Is it to Shizun’s liking? I did my best with what you had…”

Shen Yuan’s cheeks were slightly pink, most likely from Binghe watching him. “Mhm, you know I like anything you cook.” He told him. 

A beaming smile unfolded on Binghe’s face. “Then I’ll cook for you forever.” 

Shen Yuan gave him a warm smile before finishing his food. “Doesn’t Binghe need to eat?” He asked, worriedly looking at his husband.

Binghe shook his head, taking this opportunity to wrap his arms around Shen Yuan’s waist and pull him in close. He rested his head in the crook of his Shizun’s neck and smiled. “This one isn’t hungry right now.” He assured him. 

“You should still eat something…” Shen Yuan frowned.

Without another word, Binghe lifted Shen Yuan and went to the couch. 

“Binghe? What are you doing?” Shen Yuan questioned. 

“Eating.” He simply said.

“Eating? Eating what– wait.” 

“Hehe.”

“Binghe, when I said eat something, I did not mean me !” He began to protest but Binghe had already gotten his pants off. “ BINGHE!”

~

After a nearly endless scolding from his Shizun, Binghe finally managed to calm him enough to sneak his head onto Shen Yuan’s lap after he’d gotten dressed. He closed his eyes, comfortable as his husband pet his head, who murmured a few loving words despite just having scolded him only a few minutes prior. He knew that whenever he’d put his head in Shen Yuan’s lap it would calm his husband down, so he used it to his advantage often! Like now…

A few moments later, Shen Yuan’s phone lit up and started buzzing. Shen Yuan’s expression turned irritated as he picked up the device and looked at who was calling. A flurry of emotions went through his face before he finally answered. “A-Niang?” Binghe looked up at Shen Yuan with a shocked expression. There was a muffled sound of a woman's voice coming from the phone as Shen Yuan listened. Binghe watched as his husband's expression shifted from uncomfortable to irritated to just tired. “Yeah, yeah I understand.” He sighed before listening to her speak again. “Dinner?” He mumbled under his breath, his eyebrows furrowing.

Binghe propped himself up a little. “Dinner?” Was she inviting Shen Yuan to dinner? Could he tag along? He wondered what Shizun’s family would be like. Would Shen Yuan’s mom be anything like his? He missed his mom.

Shen Yuan seemed to notice the eagerness in Binghe’s eyes. “Yeah, I can come over. Is it okay if I bring someone with me?” His husband spoke into the phone while simultaneously patting Binghe’s head. The woman’s voice grew excited and her speech sped up as she spoke. A small smile came onto Shen Yuan’s face. “Yeah, I think you’ll like him.” Another few moments passed. “Okay, we’ll be there. Love you A-Niang.” He ended the call shortly after. 

Binghe immediately sat up. “Shizun, do I get to meet your mother?” He asked excitedly.

Shen Yuan sighed. “Yes, but remember you can’t call me ‘Shizun’ in front of her.” He told Binghe sternly. 

Binghe pressed a kiss to Shen Yuan’s temple. “A-Yuan it is then.” He said with a smile. Shen Yuan’s body went rigid for a moment. Binghe tilted his head in confusion as he looked down at his husband. “Shizun?” He asked worriedly. Was it wrong to have called him A-Yuan? Maybe it was too soon. Or maybe his Shizun didn’t like the name? 

“Call me that again.” He finally breathed out. 

Binghe’s heart fluttered for a moment. “Ah,” A knowing smile grew on his face. “A-Yuan.” He looked his husband in the eyes, watching the emotions flash through them.

Before he knew it, Shen Yuan had interlocked their lips and initiated a deep kiss. Binghe had no hesitation in reciprocating the kiss. In the few moments their lips were separated, he murmured “A-Yuan.” as many times as he could before he was cut off with another kiss.

It didn’t take long for things to go further. 

~

A few hours later, the couple eventually got ready to visit Shen Yuan’s mother after a bath. Luckily, Shen Yuan had ordered clothes for Binghe almost the very next day after he’d arrived. After ensuring they both looked presentable, Shen Yuan called for his driver to pick them up.

Binghe wasn’t sure how much he liked these ‘cars’. He could tell that these machines were likely the reason why this entire world reeked. He still couldn’t get used to the stench even after close to a month of being here. He still had to wear the face mask that he had gotten at that shop. 

About halfway through the trip, Shen Yuan had fallen asleep while leaning on Binghe’s shoulder. Binghe gazed at his sleeping husband, a smile spreading on his face. His husband was so pretty while he slept, looking infinitely less stressed as well. He had meant to ask him earlier what he wanted to do. Whether he wanted to stay here or return, that is. But the last thing he wanted to do was upset Shen Yuan. He knew it was a very sensitive topic right now and Binghe couldn’t be irritated even in the slightest way. While Binghe just wanted to remain wherever his Shizun was, his Shizun had loved ones in both worlds. He had his family in this world but his disciples and friends in the other. His heart ached whenever he thought about how distressed Shen Yuan would grow over the topic. If he were in his husband’s place, he didn’t think he could choose either. He wished that Shen Yuan didn’t have to make such a decision. 

Binghe was dragged out of his thoughts when the driver told them they had arrived at the Shen household. He looked out the window to see a very large home. It wasn’t as large or magnificent as the castle he had in the demon realm, but it was fairly impressive compared to the other houses he had seen in this realm. He could tell that this type of home must cost quite a lot of money. 

He glanced at the sleeping Shen Yuan, about to wake him but eventually decided against it. Shen Yuan already slept so little, he didn’t have the heart to take even the littlest amount of sleep away from his husband. After unbuckling the seatbelts, he carefully lifted Shen Yuan in his arms and stepped out of the car. He made sure to grab Shen Yuan’s crutches as well. He made his way to the front door of the home with Shen Yuan in his arms. He mumbled a few times in his sleep but to Binghe’s relief he didn’t wake. 

After he reached the door he glanced around before finding the doorbell. He pressed it and took a step back as he waited, trying to shake off the nerves. This would go fine, right? Shen Yuan had said that his mother and Binghe would likely get along pretty easily. He trusted Shen Yuan, he really did! But meeting his parents was something he thought he’d never have to do so he never prepared for it! 

A few moments later, the door opened to reveal an older woman who looked very much like Shen Yuan. He forced the sudden nervousness down and quickly collected himself. “Ah, hello.” He wanted to punch himself for how awkward he sounded. Then he noticed how confused she looked to see Shen Yuan asleep. “He fell asleep on the ride here, I didn’t want to wake him since he hasn’t been sleeping well lately.” He quickly explained.

After a moment, the initial shock that Shen Yuan’s mother had worn off and her expression turned into a warm understanding expression. “Come in, you can put him on the couch.” She told him, stepping aside so he had the space to walk in. 

He gave her a polite nod, relieved to get away from the poisoned air that was pricking at his eyes and nose. “Thank you.” He said as he slipped his shoes off. He curiously looked around the home, taking note of the railings that were on nearly every wall. There were even some railings in the hallways that were big enough to fit it. 

“We did everything we could to make sure Yuan-er could get around easily.” Shen Yuan’s mother explained when she noticed Binghe looking around. “Especially since the incident happened when he was so young.”

“Ah.” He had guessed that, but it was nice having confirmation that his husband was able to have these accommodations. He couldn’t help but wonder more and more about what had happened. How young had Shen Yuan been? Shen Yuan’s mother said incident too, not accident. Had someone hurt him on purpose? If so, he was going to have to have a word with whoever it was. (It would most likely not be just a word. If the person is still alive they would most likely not see the next day after meeting Binghe.)

“You can lay him here.” Shen Yuan’s mother's voice broke him out of his thoughts. She had gestured to a large couch that could suffice as a bed. He placed the pair of arm crutches down next to it before carefully and gently laying Shen Yuan on the couch. He grabbed one of the pillows and put it under his husband's head as his mother handed a blanket to Binghe. He smiled appreciatively at her before unfolding the blanket and putting it over Shen Yuan, taking his husband’s glasses off in the process. 

After making sure Shen Yuan was comfortable, Binghe finally stood up and greeted Shen Yuan’s mother properly. “Thank you for having me over, Mrs. Shen.” He politely said, quickly trying to remember all the things that Shen Yuan had explained over the past few days. He had a few lessons on how the way people spoke here was very different compared to how Binghe would speak in his birth world. “My name is Binghe.” He told her as he began to bow, but he was quickly stopped.

“My my, no need to be so formal honey.” She gently pushed Binghe back up into a standing position. “You can just call me A-Niang.” She told him with a warm smile. 

Binghe felt a warm feeling in his chest sprouting. He hadn’t had someone to call A-Niang in so long. A smile spread on his face. “Okay, A-Niang.” It felt so foreign but very comforting at the same time. 

“Come, you have to tell me about yourself.” She said, excitement twinkling in her eyes as she led Binghe towards the kitchen. Binghe followed with a soft smile on his face. 

Shen Yuan had been right when he said they would get along. They chatted for a good while before Shen Yuan’s mother pulled out the baby photos. Binghe had to hold himself back from bursting out into tears over the mere sight of the photos, they were just so stinking cute! In the end, he did cry. In fact, both of them ended up in tears. Binghe so desperately wanted to steal the photobook all for himself but of course, he didn’t. He wasn’t trying to get on his Husband’s mom’s bad side okay!

Shen Yuan’s mother told Binghe a bunch of stories about the twins. How they could barely tell them apart when they were very young and they’d sometimes act like they were each other until they had both developed vastly different personalities. She told him how after Shen Yuan had his incident, the two were practically inseparable with how protective Shen Jiu got. She said she was a little sad they had begun drifting apart lately, but it was all a part of adulthood. Of course, they would become independent from each other. It still made her sad, though. She loved her children very dearly. 

After a short amount of time later, Binghe heard the sound of the front door opening. When he turned to look, he was met with the sight of Shen Mei! She looked very tired but the moment she saw Binghe, her eyes lit up with excitement. She opened her mouth to say something but simultaneously, Binghe and Shen Yuan’s mother quickly shushed her. Shen Yuan’s mother gestured over to the couch and Shen Mei quickly but quietly went over to look. When she was Shen Yuan was sleeping she made a quiet, “Oh!” before going over to her mother and Binghe. She spoke to them quietly, inquiring what he and Shen Yuan were doing here. Delight unfolded on her face when her mother said they were staying for dinner. 

It was clear that Shen Mei had taken a liking to Binghe. She gushed to her mother about how cute Binghe and Shen Yuan were together and told the tragic tale of how they were separated for so long but had such a tear-jerking reunion! Binghe could feel his face heating up the more she went on. 

Eventually, she turned to him and said that she had an idea. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she explained and oh did Binghe love the idea.

~

Shen Yuan groggily woke up to find himself in a familiar place. When had he fallen asleep? He remembered him and Binghe getting ready to go to his mother's for dinner then getting in the car to be driven… Oh, he had fallen asleep during the ride. Had he really been that tired? How embarrassing. He sat up, hearing quiet chatter on the other couch near him. His vision was blurred, but he could make out the outlines of Binghe and Shen Mei. “Binghe? Meimei?” He rubbed his eyes as he called out their names. 

The two’s gazes shot to Shen Yuan, their hushed chatter quickly turning excited. The only thing that Shen Yuan could make out was, “Go get him!” from his sister. 

Before he knew it, Binghe was by his side. He squinted his eyes, trying to his vision to clear up at least a little more. “Binghe? What’s on your face?” Binghe’s lips were an unnatural red. Then Shen Yuan realized, he was wearing makeup! “Why do you have makeup on? Meimei, what did you–” Shen Yuan was about to begin to scold his younger sister but he was quickly cut off by a kiss. 

Shen Yuan will never complain about Binghe’s kisses. Unless they’re in front of people. He wasn’t a PDA guy okay! He’s always gotten easily embarrassed by affection in public, even if it wasn’t him on the receiving or giving end! So when Binghe started to kiss him, literally all over his face, he couldn’t help but turn bright red! “Binghe! What are you doing!?” He tried to get away but Binghe kept pulling him back. He could hear Shen Mei’s cackling in the background as he was mercilessly attacked by a flurry of kisses. Then Binghe went further! The flurry reached his neck and it tickled like crazy. Shen Yuan burst into a fit of laughter, again trying to push Binghe away. “Binghe– Binghe stop!!! ” He fought to say through his laughter. 

Shen Yuan finally managed to get his hand in between himself and Binghe’s lips. “That’s enough!” He scolded. Though, it didn’t seem to affect Binghe at all. He looked up at Shen Yuan with sparkly eyes and a smug grin. A smug grin with lipstick smeared around his lips. Shen Yuan looked at the hand that had intercepted, it had red lipstick on it. Oh no. He scrambled to put his glasses on before pulling out his phone. He went to the camera and quickly flipped the camera towards him to reveal the sight of his face and neck covered with kiss prints. 

He hadn’t thought it would be possible for his face to turn even more red. 

“BINGHE!” His voice was filled with embarrassment as his gaze snapped back to his husband who was now laughing his ass off. Shen Mei was laughing just as hard with her phone up and most likely recording. “I cannot believe you two!!” He desperately tried to hide his face in his hands but the feeling of the sticky lipstick on his hands was too disturbing. So instead, he grabbed pillows and flung them at his husband and sister. His sister squealed as she tried to avoid the pillows while Binghe simply accepted his fate.

Binghe had tears in his eyes from how hard he was laughing. He fell backward when the pillow hit him and was close to kicking his feet as he laughed. Shen Yuan rubbed his temples in frustration before Binghe sat up and pulled his dear husband into his arms, his forehead resting on Shen Yuan’s shoulder as he tried to calm his laughter. 

Shen Yuan had the most embarrassed expression on his face as his mother came into the room, likely investigating what all the noise was about. She froze when she saw her son's face, her expression immediately turning amused. “Yuan-er–” She tried to say something but ended up snorting. “What– what happened to you?”

Shen Yuan’s frown just grew as his eyebrows furrowed together. “Your daughter is a horrible influence on Binghe.” Was all he said. 

His mother said nothing more, instead, she burst out into laughter. Shen Yuan wanted to curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment. 

~

A few minutes later, everyone had finally stopped laughing at him and Binghe helped him to the bathroom so he could wash the lipstick off of his face. Shen furiously scrubbed his face and neck to get the lipstick off while Binghe was trying to not laugh again. “Shiiiiizun I’m sorry!” Binghe tried to say but his voice had a hint of laughter to it, making Shen Yuan frown more and more. 

“I hope you know, I’m not going to kiss you for the rest of the night for this!” Shen Yuan declared as he dried his face off. 

Binghe’s laughter immediately came to a halt and a panicked expression replaced it. “Wait wait! Shizun don’t do this to me!!” 

Shen Yuan quickly turned away, knowing if he looked at the expression on Binghe’s face he wouldn’t be able to resist. “Don’t try to use your puppy dog eyes on me!” He hissed. 

He couldn’t not look at Binghe for long. Especially once Binghe carefully pulled him in by the waist and tilted Shen Yuan’s chin up, how was he supposed to not look at those eyes that were glittering with tears!? He had such a pitiful expression that Shen Yuan couldn’t help but soften at the sight! He knew that this was just a fake to get him to give in, but it worked so well! “A-Yuan…” Binghe began to pout as Shen Yuan tried to look away. 

“Aiyah, Binghe that’s enough!” He tried to be firm but one more look and Shen Yuan was done for. He sighed and pulled Binghe down into a kiss. “There, I was just joking okay?” 

Binghe’s expression immediately brightened and he quickly stole another kiss. The tears in his eyes dried up instantly. Shen Yuan sighed internally, berating himself for giving in to his husband's antics so easily. 

The husbands returned to the main room where Shen Mei was still giggling every few moments. Shen Yuan had to promise to order her lunch to her school for the next month to get her to promise not to post the video. 

A short time later, Shen Jiu showed up. Shen Yuan hadn’t expected him to be over but he didn’t complain. He found himself wanting to spend more time with his siblings despite his original goal of not getting reattached to either of them. He had missed them terribly, what could be the harm in getting close to them again? 

Shen Yuan sat on a stool at the counter where his mother was making dinner. He leaned against the counter, watching as she made dinner and drinking in the smell of it. His mother’s cooking always made him feel like he was in the right place, at home. Binghe’s cooking strongly reminded him of hers. He realized that was most likely the reason he enjoyed it so much. His mother put the food in the oven to finish cooking before sitting down next to Shen Yuan.

“And what is my Yuan-er so deep in thought about?” She asked softly, gently pinching his cheek. 

Shen Yuan smiled. “Just that I missed you. We haven’t talked in a while.” 

She had an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry honey, I’ve been so busy. I didn’t even realize months had passed since we last talked until I finally had the chance to get the day off this morning.” She sighed. 

“A-Niang, it’s okay.” Shen Yuan told her as she pulled him into a hug. 

“No, it’s not.” She rubbed small circles on his back. “I’m not as present in my children’s lives as I wish I were. I didn’t even know you were in a relationship until tonight.” 

Shen Yuan felt a little guilty. “That’s only because I didn’t tell anyone. Not even A-Jiu and Meimei knew until a couple of days ago.” He tried to assure her. “It’s not your fault, you’re doing your best.”

His mother looked at him with a smile and her eyes watery. “Oh Yuan-er, how are you such a wonderful person?” She pressed a kiss to his temple.

He laughed softly. “I was raised by a wonderful person.”

She shook her head and laughed. “Oh, you.” She ruffled his hair. “How have you been lately? You have to catch me up.” She propped her head up with one of her hands while looking at Shen Yuan.

He shrugged. “Kind of shitty, I haven’t been getting good sleep lately but with Binghe it’s getting better.” He told her. “Luckily with him, there’ll be no more food poisoning incidents.” He laughed softly. 

She tilted her head, expression immediately turning concerned. “Food poisoning? Yuan-er when did you get food poisoning?”

“You know, about 2 months ago? I was in the hospital for like 2 almost 3 weeks?” He grew confused. “You didn’t know??” 

“2 weeks!?” She exclaimed. “It was that bad!? No, no one told me about this! How severe was it to put you in the hospital for that long!?” Her voice was growing higher pitched with worry. 

Disbelief unfolded inside Shen Yuan. “A-Niang, it put me in a 12-day coma.” 

A hand slapped over her mouth and her eyes welled with tears. “Oh, Yuan-er!” She pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “Oh, if I had known I would have been there!”

“Is everything okay?” Binghe’s voice came from behind the two.

Shen Yuan looked at his husband while hugging his mother. “Binghe, can you please tell A-Jiu and Meimei to come over here?” He tried to keep the anger in his voice from revealing itself but it was difficult when he knew those two didn’t tell his mother. 

Binghe nodded and quickly went to get the siblings. A short moment passed before the trio returned. “What the– what happened!?” Shen Jiu’s steps sped up when he saw his mother in tears. 

Shen Yuan glared at his brother. “You didn’t tell her about the food poisoning!?” He hissed.

Shen Jiu’s face paled, along with Shen Mei’s who had come by her brother's side. “A-Jiu, you didn’t tell her!?” Shen Mei exclaimed.

“Me?! You were the one that should’ve told her!” Shen Jiu quickly shot back. “You live with her!”

Shen Mei looked shocked. “How was I supposed to tell her!? I thought you had told her so I didn’t say anything!”

Shen Yuan pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling a headache taking over. “So you’re telling me that neither of you told her because you both thought the other had already told her?” The siblings looked guilty as they nodded. “And for one moment… you didn’t have a thought that she didn’t know when she didn’t visit?”

His mother gasped next to him. “Oh, Yuan-er, you probably thought I didn’t care since I didn’t visit.” 

Well, he couldn’t say much to that. He did wonder why his mother didn’t contact or visit him in the hospital. He knew the reason now, though. 

“Oh, you two are in so much trouble.” His mother quickly dried her tears, letting go of Shen Yuan and standing up. “Get over here!” 

Shen Jiu and Shen Mei immediately paled as their lives were now flashing through their eyes. “Wait wait, A-Niang we can talk about this!” Shen Jiu tried to reason with her but in return, his ear was grabbed and he was pulled down. At the sight of her brother, Shen Mei immediately turned to run but her mother was quicker and with her other hand latched onto one of Shen Mei’s ears as well. 

Shen Yuan watched as his siblings were dragged away, trying not to laugh at how miserable they appeared as soon as their mother opened her mouth to lecture them. A pair of arms wrapped around him and Binghe’s head rested on top of his. “She’s pretty fierce, isn’t she?” Shen Yuan laughed softly.

Binghe smiled, pressing a kiss on the top of Shen Yuan’s head. “She is. I can see where you get it from.” 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes and put his hands over Binghe’s. “Well, if I’m like my mother then I better take that as a compliment.” He stated matter of factly as he sunk into Binghe’s embrace.

~

After his mother finished lecturing his poor siblings, she came back with a cheery smile and declared that dinner should be done now. Shen Yuan sat down at the table after it was set up, Binghe taking the seat next to him. Usually, that was where Shen Jiu sat so Binghe got a deadly glare from him. Not that he cared. It was Binghe, he didn’t give a shit as long as he could be by his husband’s side. Seeing that Binghe wasn’t budging, Shen Jiu sat down in the spot next to Shen Mei with a big frown on his face. 

Shen Yuan’s mother brought the food to the table and sat down with them after getting food on everyone’s plates. Shen Mei glanced around the table. “Is A-Die not eating dinner with us?”

Shen Yuan felt his expression go sour at the mention of his father and saw Shen Jiu’s face do the same. “Do you really have to bring up that man right before I eat?” Shen Jiu grumbled.

“Jiu-er.” Their mother scolded before she smiled apologetically at Shen Mei. “I’m sorry A-Mei, not tonight. He’s on another work trip.” 

Shen Mei slumped in her seat. “He’s always on a work trip.” She huffed. 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “Work trip my ass.” He scoffed. “No workplace requires anyone to go to those kinds of places so often just for ‘work’” 

His mother sighed. “Let’s not talk about this right now, please.” She told them before beginning to eat. 

Binghe shot Shen Yuan a curious glance but Shen Yuan just shook his head and began eating as well.

After dinner, Shen Yuan, Binghe, and Shen Mei sat on the couch while Shen Jiu and his mother washed the dishes. Shen Mei was showing Binghe the video from earlier on her phone and they both giggled while Shen got embarrassed again. Shen Yuan pulled out his phone, ignoring the two, and scrolled through social media instead. It wasn’t long before he noticed the time. “Ah, Binghe it’s getting late. We should start getting ready to go home.” He told his husband, starting to get up.

Both Binghe and Shen Mei started pouting at the same time. “Can’t you guys sleep over? You guys can just sleep in your old room!” Shen Mei tried. 

Shen Yuan shook his head. “I’m sorry Shen Mei, maybe some other time.” Even Binghe looked dejected at Shen Yuan’s answer. He even attempted to use his puppy dog eyes but Shen Yuan was determined to not let them work on him for the second time today. “That’s enough, let’s go.” He told Binghe, grabbing his crutches and heading to the door. 

Shen Yuan’s mother quickly rushed over to them. “Oh, are you leaving already? Get home safe sweetheart.” She hugged Shen Yuan, pressing a kiss on his forehead.

He smiled. “We will A-Niang. I love you, let me know when the next time you have another day off.”

She nodded. “Of course. It was wonderful meeting you too Binghe.” She turned to Binghe, giving his arm a squeeze with a warm smile. 

Binghe returned the smile. “It was nice meeting you too.” He told her, his eyes sparkling. 

After saying their goodbyes, the two started making their way towards the car that was waiting for them at the end of the driveway. Binghe was trying to convince Shen Yuan to let him carry him to the car almost the whole way there. “Binghe, for the last time I can walk myself–”

“A-Yuan!”

Shen Yuan stopped in place and turned to locate the sound of the voice that came from behind them. He saw Shen Jiu rushing towards them before stopping right in front of the two. “A-Jiu? What is it?” Shen Yuan asked, a little worried. 

Shen Jiu glanced back and forth between Shen Yuan and Binghe for a moment. “Can I talk to you?” He asked. “Alone.” 

“Alone? Why can’t you say it in front of Binghe?” He asked confusedly, feeling Binghe pulling him close to him. 

Shen Jiu rolled his eyes. “Can I not have a private conversation without your beast of a husband being there anymore?”

Shen Yuan’s eyes narrowed. “Stop calling him that.” He hissed before turning to Binghe. “Go wait in the car, I’ll be there shortly.” He told him. 

“What? But Shizun–” Binghe began to complain.

“Go.” 

Binghe huffed, shooting a glare at Shen Jiu. “Fine. But if you take too long I’m coming back.” He said as he pressed a quick kiss to Shen Yuan’s lips. He left a few moments afterward. 

Shen Yuan turned back to his brother. “What is it?” He asked, choosing to ignore the disgusted expression on Shen Jiu’s face. He could care less that his twin didn’t like his and Binghe’s relationship, he’d have to suck it up. They were married, forever. 

Shen Jiu crossed his arms. “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, about what?” Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. 

“About what you’re going to do.”

“A-Jiu, could you be any less clear?” Shen Yuan let out an annoyed sigh. He was already exhausted, he just wanted to go home with Binghe and sleep. “What are you talking about?”

Shen Jiu’s face turned frustrated. “About whether you’re going back to that world or not!” He exclaimed. 

Shen Yuan went rigid, his blood turning to ice. He took a deep breath and looked away. “I don’t know yet.” He admitted. 

“You don’t know?” Shen Jiu tapped his foot impatiently. “How do you not know? Shouldn’t this be an easy decision?” He scoffed mockingly.

Shen Yuan looked at him with a weirded-out expression on his face. Why was his brother acting like this was the easiest decision to ever make? “Easy? This is far from easy, A-Jiu.”

“How? The right choice is right in front of you. Don’t tell me you’re seriously divided on this A-Yuan.” Disbelief filled Shen Jiu’s voice.

“The right choice?” Shen Yuan stared at his brother. “There is no right choice in this matter, there’s only 2 choices that are fucking tearing me apart!” He could feel himself starting to lose his composure. “Of course, you think it’s easy because you think choosing to stay here is the right choice. Am I right?”

“Is that even a question? Staying here is the right choice!”

Shen Yuan gripped the handles of his crutches tightly. “Like hell it is!” His voice began to rise in volume. 

“The fuck is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to say returning to the other world is more important than staying with your family?” Shen Jiu hissed. 

“No! That’s not what I’m saying!” Shen Yuan’s heart ached. “You don’t understand–”

“You’re right!” Shen Jiu cut him off. “I don’t understand. So fucking explain how you could possibly even consider going back instead of staying!”

Shen Yuan stared at him for a moment before anger overtook him. “Maybe the fucking fact that if Binghe and Mobei-Jun don’t return then that world could sink into chaos!? Or, I don’t know, maybe the fucking fact I would never see my disciples or anyone on Cang Qiong Peak again!?” He laughed in a mocking tone. “Did you ever stop to consider for one moment that maybe, just maybe, I have people I care about and love in that world too!?” 

“A-Yuan–”

“Don’t fucking do that shit!” He spat. “Did you ever stop for one moment and consider how fucking distressing this is for me!? This decision relies on me, and only me! I know for a fact that Binghe will want to stay with me wherever I choose but I can tell that Qinghua and Mobei-jun want to go back! If I don’t choose to go back, then that means I lose my fucking best friend! Someone who I don’t want to lose!”

Shen Jiu tried to cut in. “A-Yuan I didn’t mean to–”

“Didn’t mean to what, A-Jiu? I know that if I choose to return I lose you guys again. ” His voice cracked and his vision was growing blurry. “You think I want to repeat my grieving process over my family again? This isn’t as fucking easy as you think it is!”

“If you would stop being so fucking selfish and listen to me–” Shen Jiu stopped himself almost as fast as he began, expression filling with immediate regret. 

Shen Yuan stared. A tense silence lasted a good while before either of them spoke again. “Selfish?” Shen Yuan laughed in disbelief. “I’m selfish?”

“I didn’t mean–”

“Sure, A-Jiu.” Shen Yuan cut him off. “Sure you didn’t mean it.” He could feel his face twist up as he tried to stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes. It didn’t work very well, he could feel his face growing wet anyway. 

Shen Yuan didn’t give his brother another chance to speak. He already turned away and was walking towards the car. He didn’t even realize Binghe had been standing outside the car until he heard him calling his name worriedly. Shen Yuan felt Binghe wrap his arms around him as he choked out a sob. He sank into Binghe’s embrace, shutting his eyes tight and not caring when Binghe eventually picked him up and got into the car. 

He didn’t see the murderous glare that Binghe gave Shen Jiu. Nor did he know that Binghe heard the entire conversation. 

As he held Shen Yuan, the car began moving to take them home. Binghe rubbed circles on his husband's back as he stared at the blue entity in front of him.

[Progress now at 96%! Reward will be granted at 100% completion.]

~

Shang Qinghua sat across from his best friend who looked like he’d just been through hell and back. Shen Yuan had asked to meet up, just the two of them. Somehow, his friend looked worse than he did during the two months and the three years that Binghe had been gone combined. 

“Bro, are you okay? You seriously look like you could fall over dead at any moment.” Shang Qinghua asked. 

“I’m fine.” Shen Yuan snapped. “I need to discuss something with you.”
He sighed in defeat at his friend's stubbornness. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get anything out of him. “Alright, go for it.” 

“Do you want to go back? To the other world, I mean.” 

Shang Qinghua paused for a moment. “Well, I think so. I don’t exactly have anything but bills for me here.” He said, leaning back in his chair. “Family hasn’t spoken to me since I turned 18, Proud Immortal Demon way is finished, the only thing I’d stay for is to see the end to some animes.” 

Shen Yuan didn’t say anything, just rubbed his temples with frustration. He looked more stressed than he had before. Shang Qinghua didn’t realize that was possible. “Okay.” Shen Yuan eventually said, exhaustion in his voice. He stood up, starting to make his way out of where they had met up. 

“Wait, bro! We just got here, you’re leaving already?”

“I got the answer I was looking for. You want to go back which means Mobei-jun will also most likely want to go back.” Shen Yuan muttered. “Binghe doesn’t care where we go so it leaves the decision up to me on whether we go with you or not.” 

Shang Qinghua’s eyebrows furrowed as Shen Yuan spoke his thoughts aloud. “You don’t have to do this alone, you know?” He told Shen Yuan, walking by his side. “No matter what you choose, you have the support of all of us.”

Shen Yuan sighed. “It doesn’t make it easier.”
Shang Qinghua shook his head. “This isn’t an easy decision for you.” He could not only tell from the information Shen Yuan had told him, but also from Shen Yuan’s physical and mental state. “Take your time, okay? The system already told us that time is passing extremely slowly back in the other place. No rush.”

It didn’t seem to help, though. “It’s still passing.” Shen Yuan murmured.

Shang Qinghua looked at his friend, worry starting to overtake him. He hated that the system was being so cruel and putting them all in this position. Why couldn’t it just leave them alone? He came to a halt, causing Shen Yuan to also stop and look at him with a questioning expression. “Shen Yuan, I know I can’t do much to help with your decision but,” He hesitated. “Don’t let yourself spiral. Or else Binghe might have to get rid of us all if he sees us as the source of your stress.” He tried to joke. It only got a small twitch of his lips out of Shen Yuan. Shang Qinghua sighed, deciding to put aside his pride again. 

He pulled Shen Yuan into another hug. This time, it didn’t feel as awkward as it had before. It took a moment but he felt Shen Yuan hug back and heard a sniffle come from him. Shang Qinghua tried to find the right words but nothing felt right. So, he just stayed quiet. What Shen Yuan needed was to be comforted. And that’s what Shang Qinghua would do. He wished he could do something, anything, to relieve this stress off his friend. While he knew he couldn’t, for now, he’d simply stick by his side. “I know you have Binghe but I’ll be here to be a shoulder to cry on.” Shang Qinghua told him with a small smile. 

“Thank you.” Shen Yuan whispered.

“Of course.”

~

It was another difficult morning to get Shen Yuan out of bed. He could tell that Binghe was worried out of his mind, but ever since that argument with his brother, it’s been a battle every day. He can’t help but want to curl up in his bed and ignore the world and the decision he was supposed to make. The stress was too much for him. He wished none of this had happened.

Binghe eventually managed to get Shen Yuan out of bed to take a bath together. He sat behind Shen Yuan, gently massaging Shen Yuan’s back and neck. There was a soothing tune playing from his phone that he’d left on the counter. He figured it’d be better than just silence. 

“A-Yuan?” Binghe eventually spoke. 

“Hm?” Shen Yuan hummed. 

“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Shen Yuan paused, a feeling of dread passing through his stomach. “What is it?”

Binghe visibly hesitated, his hands stopping for a moment. “The other night, at dinner.” He began. Shen Yuan relaxed when he realized the question wasn’t about staying or leaving. “Why did everyone get so tense at the mention of your dad?”

Oh. Still a horrible question. He could feel himself go rigid again. “He’s just…” He took a deep breath. “He’s just never been a good man.” When he glanced behind him, Binghe held a curious look. Well, it was now or never. “He’s never been present in any of our lives. The few times he’s been there, they’ve never been good experiences.”

Unbeknownst to Shen Yuan, as he explained, Binghe was receiving updated percentages from the system. 

“When I was I think about 8 or 9, one day he came to pick me up from school.”

[96.5%]

“He’d reeked of alcohol. I don’t know how my teachers didn’t notice. Or maybe they didn’t care. Anyway, I got in the car. He drove dangerously, it was terrifying.”

[97%]

“I was screaming at him to slow down and stop swerving, but he didn’t listen to me. He was too drunk.”

[97.5%]

“Eventually, the inevitable happened. He ran a red light and a truck slammed right into us.” Shen took a shaky breath. “While he came out with only a mild concussion, I came out with my arm broken and knee shattered.”

[98%]

Shen Yuan felt Binghe tense behind him. He patted his husband's knee, knowing he was probably growing a murderous urge towards Shen Yuan’s father. If he even deserved to be called a father. “It was so long ago, don’t worry.” Shen Yuan tried to laugh it off, but Binghe just leaned forward, wrapping his arms around him. 

“Your mother stayed with him?” Binghe asked quietly.

Shen Yuan shook his head. “Not really. They’re still legally married since their combined incomes were the only way they could afford all of my medical expenses.” He sighed. “It was really needed during the time with my knee. Especially when someone decided to pretend to be a doctor and attempt to do surgery on it.”

[98.5%]

“Yeah, that guy fucked it up beyond repair. We sued him, of course. No matter how many surgeries they attempted, I simply couldn’t walk on it anymore.” Shen Yuan remembered how devastated he had been when he found out he could no longer do many things he had loved doing. His whole family had been devastated. “The money we got from that was put towards accommodating me despite my dad just wanting me to get more surgeries to repair it. Even though he was told it was impossible.”

[99%]

“I’m sorry A-Yuan.” Binghe whispered.

Shen Yuan leaned back, resting his head on Binghe’s shoulder. “What for? You couldn’t have prevented it. Plus, it’s a distant memory now.” He assured his husband. “No need to worry. I’m okay now.”

Binghe shook his head. “You still didn’t deserve that. Your own father…”

“Aiyah, Binghe don’t dwell on it. My Da-ge already beat the crap out of him before he left.”

[99.5%]

“Da-ge?” Binghe questioned.

Shen Yuan sighed. “Yeah. He left when he was 18. He’s 4 years older than me. When he left, he decided to try and beat some sense into our father.” He laughed a little at the memory. “I haven’t seen him since. We kept in touch for a while but after a few years, he eventually stopped replying. I think he changed his number.” 

[100%! Congratulations! You have gained enough information to receive your reward (^O^)／ you may collect your reward at any time! ]

Shen Yuan didn’t see how Binghe’s eyes lit up as he looked at the blue entity that wasn’t visible to his husband. 

“A-Yuan.”

“Hm?”

“Would you be up for a trip to that park you were telling me about?”

Shen Yuan looked up at his husband, a little surprised. “Today?’

Binghe nodded. “I think it’ll be good to get out of here for a little.” He said with an excited glint in his eyes.

Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow. “What are you planning?” He questioned.

Binghe smiled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Hmm…. sure Binghe.”

~

The couple got dressed and Shen Yuan called for his driver to pick them up. After a short ride, they arrived. He was curious as to why Binghe seemed so excited to come here. It was just a normal park, nothing all that special about it. Though, it was quite gorgeous. He’d admit that it was nice to get fresh air. He wasn’t sure that Binghe would agree with how he had a face mask on. Despite how his face scrunched up at every whiff of air he got, Binghe still looked excited. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” Shen Yuan asked with a soft laugh.

“You’ll see.” Binghe told him with a teasing tone. Shen Yuan had no choice but to trust him. 

Binghe had them walking for a hot moment before they finally stopped at a spot that was away from the rest of the people also at the park. They laid out a blanket to sit on and got comfortable. Shen Yuan sat with his legs crossed while Binghe lay down with his head in Shen Yuan’s lap. 

Shen Yuan gazed down at his husband lovingly as he petted his head. “So, are you going to tell me why we’re here? Or did you just want to come here to lay here?” He teased. 

Binghe looked up at him with a smile. “I have a surprise for you.” He told Shen Yuan. “One that you’ll love.”

Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow. “A surprise? This must be a big surprise if we came out here for it.”

Binghe sat up. “Trust me, it is!” He insisted before pulling out something from his pocket. He grabbed Shen Yuan’s hand, placing the item in his hand.

When he looked at the item, it was a key. “The Xin Mo key?” He felt his heart sink a little. “I don’t get it.”

Binghe waved his hands. “Give me a moment!” He said before he made a few motions which Shen Yuan recognized. He could tell Binghe was likely interacting with the system's interface. 

“What are you–!” Before he could finish, the key suddenly started glowing. “What’s going on!?” Shen Yuan exclaimed. 

There was a flash of light and when Shen Yuan opened his eyes back up, the key was nowhere to be seen. His eyebrows furrowed as he spiraled into even more confusion. “Shizun.” Binghe said softly. “Look at your wrist.”

Shen Yuan looked down at his wrist to find a bracelet. “What?” He whispered to himself, taking the bracelet off to examine it. But as soon as he took it off, it glowed and quickly changed its form into a dagger-sized Xin Mo. Suddenly, there was the sound of the system chiming.

[Congratulations!! Item Obtained: Travel-sized Xin Mo. Use - When used to slash, the weapon will create a portal to the PIDW world. When in the PIDW world, slashing it will create a portal to the world user is currently in!]

[Amount of times that it can be used is unlimited. Enjoy!]

Shen Yuan sat in shock for a few seconds. Then he blinked. He looked at Binghe, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Binghe– Binghe how did you–?” 

Binghe smiled warmly at Shen Yuan. “The day I found you, I realized the decision you would have to make. So I asked the system if there was anything I could do to change that. It gave me quite a few things to do– but the reward was that. So I had no problem in doing what it asked.” 

Shen Yuan stared at him, disbelief overwhelming him. His body acted before his brain could even process anything. He threw his arms around Binghe, quickly hiding his face in the crook of his shoulder. “Oh, Binghe!” Shen Yuan choked out a sob. “You– I love you so much.” 

Binghe hugged him back, tightly. “I love you too. More than anything A-Yuan.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” 

The sound of the system chimed once again.

[Side story - To find you again: Completed]